Michael Murphy (Tipperary South, Fine Gael)
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99. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport his plans to address the long delays in the Road Safety Authority providing figures requested via Parliamentary Questions; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [67547/25]

Seán Canney (Galway East, Independent)
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As Minister of State for International & Road Transport, Logistics, Rail & Ports, I wish to advise that this is not the first occasion that delayed reply to parliamentary questions by the Road Safety Authority (RSA) has been raised. Deputies have a legitimate expectation to receive detailed replies to any question referred to a State agency within a reasonable timeframe, and it is therefore a subject of significant concern for me as Minister when this expectation is not met.

In response to this issue being raised earlier this year, my officials requested that the RSA prepare an analysis of their PQ volumes and response times. This analysis showed that, as of the end of August, the RSA had received 312 PQs and responded to 76% within ten days. I do wish to acknowledge that the volume of PQs received by the RSA had increased from 143, or by 118%, compared to the same period in 2024.

Notwithstanding this significant increase in query volumes and improvement in response times, I believe that approximately a quarter of PQs not being replied to within ten days is an issue. While there may be certain complex queries requiring more time than the standard period, these should be the exception rather than the rule, and it is incumbent on the RSA to appropriately prioritise and resource responses to Deputies.

I thank the Deputy for raising this matter with me and will request that my officials continue to engage with the RSA and monitor their ongoing performance on this issue. Finally, I would request that Deputies continue to inform my office when responses are not received within the ten day period and my officials will follow up on any such instance.