With the Leas-Cheann Comhairle's blessing, I welcome the boys and girls from Castlebridge National School in Wexford. It is a historic place in Wexford. In fact, the Castlebridge team was the first Wexford team to win an all-Ireland hurling championship. The Leas-Cheann Comhairle, being a Kilkenny man, will no doubt look at that fact with envy. The measures that were taken over the years in relation to road safety were working. If we look at the figures for 2018, we can see that, tragically, there were 139 road deaths. That was the lowest in modern times. The number of people killed in one year on Irish roads 40 years before that was 628. I refer to these tragic figures to indicate to the Minister of State that the measures we were taking in terms of enforcement of seat belt use, drink-driving and safety and in bringing the people along with us were working. When we put the resources into combating deaths on our roads and improving road safety, they actually work. In the context of a road safety camera strategy, it is essential that we roll-out static cameras. I want to raise again - the Leas-Cheann Comhairle will be familiar with this - the static camera in Glenmore in County Kilkenny, which is causing turmoil for thousands of people. You are in a 100 km zone, you arrive at an 80 km speed sign and you do not have time to slow down safely and correctly before you are right on top of the camera. Hundreds if not thousands of people, the safest of drivers, have been caught for speeding and given points. People are coming to me saying that it is not so much the fines that break their hearts. These are individuals with unblemished licences who are being issued with points. I ask for the Minister of State's personal intervention on this. The camera is welcome. This is an issue of signage. The road is dangerous but, we need to ensure fairness for people.
Sentiment score: 0.11