Pa Daly (Kerry, Sinn Fein)
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140. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport if the RSA has resumed sharing collision data with local councils; if not, the reason for the delay; and to outline an expected timeline for when this data will be shared again. [5284/25]

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal East, Fianna Fail)
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Collision data are compiled by An Garda Síochána in the first instance. In recent years, the onward sharing of this data with both the Road Safety Authority (RSA) and local authorities has been complicated by the General Data Protection Regulation and associated safeguards associated with personal data. However, following extensive efforts by stakeholders across the sector, an approach to the sharing of data in future was agreed with the Data Protection Commission last year, following which a Ministerial Order was issued under Section 8 of the Road Safety Authority Act 2006 to allow the RSA to receive collision data from An Garda Síochána.

The restoration of full data sharing with local authorities is more complex and requires amending the Roads Act 1993. In July 2024, Government approved a General Scheme of a bill to make these amendments, but this bill was not enacted prior to the recent election. Engagement between the Department and the Office of the Parliamentary Counsel in relation to the proposed provisions has been ongoing in recent months and, as called for in the Programme for Government, it is expected that this matter will be resolved in the forthcoming National Vehicle and Driver File Bill. It is my intention that this Bill progress to enactment before the end of 2025.

It should be noted, however, that local authority investment decisions are still informed by collision data through an interim arrangement, pending the full resolution described above. My Department continues to analyse collision data for locations of interest and shares a subset of critical data fields with local authorities to support targeted road safety investment. In 2024, the Department provided grant funding for 60 road safety improvement schemes identified through this location identification analysis.