I welcome the publication of Ireland's first national camera safety strategy. Any measure that reduces speeding and saves lives on our roads is certainly worth considering in a constructive manner. Across the country, thousands of schools and communities will breathe a sigh of relief when they hear this news because far too many parents have their hearts in their mouths sending their children to school every morning. Just yesterday, parents at Cloneyhurke National School contacted me with the shocking results of the school's green schools walkability audit. Some 97% of vehicles were breaking the 50 km/h schooltime limit during drop-off. Some 83% were travelling at over 60 km/h and some were recorded at over 100 km/h. There is still no footpath between the school and the community hall. Children and parents are forced to walk on the road while cars block the hard shoulder. The road surface floods and the times on the signage are wrong. The situation is simply unacceptable. It certainly poses difficulties and risks in terms of children's safety. Cameras will be welcomed by schools like Cloneyhurke National School but let us be honest. Cameras catch offenders but they do not build footpaths, resurface roads or install proper traffic calming measures. That is the glaring contradiction at the heart of this Government's approach. While the Department rolls out a national camera strategy, communities in Offaly have been left waiting years for basic road infrastructure. The Tullamore-Kilbeggan link road on the N52 is a case in point. For over a decade, we were told funding was in the pipeline. TII kept its grip on the money. Only recently, after ongoing pressure and the issue being raised by me in the Chamber many times, it has finally received approval and has been placed on the national development plan. Road safety cannot be delivered by means of enforcement alone. We need cameras, but we also need concrete and proper infrastructure, particularly in the vicinity of schools where, in many cases, there are no footpaths.

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