Every day we step out into a world of movement with cars rushing to work, cyclists weaving through traffic and pedestrians crossing streets in hope and in trust. The road connects us but too often it has become a place of tragedy, a tragedy that is preventable. In the Twenty-six Counties there were 190 deaths last year. With the proper infrastructure, enforcement and resources, we can save lives but the Government has failed on three fronts. The National Safety Camera Strategy represents an opportunity to rectify the mistakes of the past but I fear that it may fall far short. Everybody wants to improve road safety and prevent tragedy on our roads but what is being presented here simply does not meet the urgency of the crisis we face. Let me be clear: the automated enforcement cameras can play a role in saving lives. International evidence shows they reduce collisions and serious injuries but the reality is that this is not a fully-fledged strategy. At the moment, it is a framework and is not ready for delivery. That matters because we are in the middle of a road safety emergency. I have said how many people lost their lives on Irish roads last year. It was the highest figure in a decade and nine of those were in my county. Deaths across the European Union fell by 3% but fatalities here rose by 7%. Since 2019, the divergence is even more stark. Since then, road deaths in Ireland have increased by 31% but across the EU they are down by 15%. Europe is saving lives but Ireland is going backwards. When the Government asks us to support the strategy, we must ask whether this a serious effort or whether a serious effort been made to date. When we examine the details, the shortcomings are obvious. There are no clear timelines for roll-out, no measurable targets, no KPIs and no cost-benefit analysis. In other words, there is no way for this House or the public to hold the Government to account for its delivery. Of more concern is the failure to address fundamental legal questions. The strategy acknowledges and effectively sets aside critical issues around data protection, enforcement powers and evidential standards. These go to the very heart of whether the system can function and ignoring them will not make them go away. It will simply create the conditions for delay, legal challenge and possible failure down the line. We also have a model here that could lead to unnecessary complexity and confusion. Under the strategy, responsibilities are divided between TII, An Garda Síochána and the NTA. That may look like collaboration, but where is the accountability and is there a possibility of duplication or bureaucratic inefficiency? We cannot ignore the reality of our current enforcement system. Under Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael, roads policing has collapsed. This matter was dealt with by the Joint Committee on Transport this morning. There are 400 fewer gardaí working in road traffic than there were 15 years ago, according to PARC Road Safety Group. The latter stated that in 2009, there were 1,046 members of what was then known as the Garda traffic corps. By December 2025, the number of personnel had fallen to 647. In some regions, the number of gardaí involved in road policing has halved since 2009. There are 40 fewer vehicles tied to traffic units compared with that time. Most crucially, in 2007 - and this is a very interesting statistic - there were over 20,000 checks at the side of the road in respect of people driving under the influence. Last year, there were fewer than 5,000 such checks, which represents a 75% reduction. We also heard from Dr. Sheila Gilheany from Alcohol Action Ireland at the Joint Committee on Transport's meeting this morning. She stated that alcohol is factor in 35% of deaths on Irish roads. In places like Australia, the number stands at 14%. The answers are obvious, because we are not tackling this matter in the way we did back in 2007. The number of stops and checks is in free fall. In the context of the gardaí we do have, there are serious issues as well, which we saw outlined in the Crowe report. That report not only made it clear that roads policing was under-resourced and ineffective but also that there are other issues. It is important to note that the collapse in roads policing has occurred as the scope and scale of the responsibilities have increased. We have more cars, heavier traffic and more complex road risks than ever before, yet the number of gardaí expected to do the work to address this has decreased. We are not going to deliver safer roads with fewer gardaí, fewer Garda vehicles and limited technology. For example, gardaí had to wait seven years to access the roads policing mobility app, which includes vital information such as motorist penalty points and court disqualifications. They are still awaiting access to further information, including driving licence photographs and people's signatures. That is not good enough. Against that backdrop, what confidence can the public have that this expanded system will actually be enforced? There is also a real risk that increased automation will overwhelm the under-resourced, underfunded system by overloading the fixed charge notice process and creating backlogs of appeals. This is not just about cameras; it is also about capacity, and capacity is already overstretched. Even if all of that were resolved, we must ask another question. Is enforcement alone enough? The answer is "No". The transport committee has repeatedly heard that cameras are effective, but only as part of a broader approach that includes better road design and stronger policing. Better road design is particularly important at a time when we are dealing with an increased number of cyclists being killed or seriously injured on our roads. Without these measures, the impact of the strategy will be limited. We must recognise that fatalities are only part of the story. The number of serious injuries may be significantly under-reported. Between 2020 and 2024, over 11,000 people were hospitalised compared to only 7,400 recorded by gardaí. This is the true cost. There is a question over the data that are there. The context is a rising death toll, a worsening European situation and a system under strain, and what we have is a document that gives rise to more questions than it answers. We do not want more frameworks. We need to know that when cyclists, drivers or pedestrians take to our roads or footpaths, they will get home safely. We need a plan that is detailed, legally robust, properly resourced and ready to deliver, but we also need more gardaí and more visibility. Everybody knows that when there is more visibility on the streets, the number of public order offences decrease. There needs to be more visibility at the times of day that road traffic fatalities and serious injuries actually occur, which is late at night and on country roads.

Sentiment score: -0.04