This debate must first of all reflect on the carnage on our roads in 2025, a year in which 185 lives were lost in crashes and accidents. This was the highest fatality rate in over a decade. It was a year in which we saw the previous trends of progress in this area not just stalled, but actually reversed. That momentum of tragic reversal has continued in 2026. I think everyone here recognises that safety cameras are not a silver bullet, but they can help to make our roads less dangerous. In the context of that ongoing tragedy on our roads, the delay in the publication of this report was really baffling. We know that the draft report was submitted to the Minister of State in May last year. That is a year ago now and that year has been a very dark one for road safety in our country. This is something I have raised in the Chamber and in the committee on a number of occasions. Instead of the emergency roll-out of technology that we know works, we saw a year of bilateral meetings and a review. However, while the Minister of State was reviewing this document, our roads were becoming increasingly lethal. That vision zero goal, Ireland's commitment to eliminating road deaths by 2050, becomes less like a target and more like a mirage when the primary tool for enforcement is stuck in a departmental inbox for a full calendar year. I believe the strategy that has been published falls short in a number of key areas. The primary and most glaring issue is that there are no timelines for the implementation of the strategy. In particular, it is clear that this strategy, if it is to work, requires significant legislative changes to deliver on its key elements, yet there is no commitment to a clear legislative timeline to do that. I am not clear why the Government would publish a strategy of such significance without tagging on a clear timeline with it, given the extent to which it has already been delayed and the urgency with which everybody speaking in this Chamber today is going to treat this particular matter. A strategy is just a beginning. There needs to be a clear commitment to deliver on it. Without timelines attached, it is hard to see where that commitment becomes apparent. Bearing in mind the urgency with which I believe the roll-out of safety cameras must be treated, I would like to highlight a couple of areas in my constituency and around the country that some of my Green Party colleagues have flagged with me and that could be changed for the better by the introduction of these cameras. In my own constituency, I would point to the Kempton estate, just off the Navan Road and close to the Ashtown roundabout. Residents seeking to exit the estate onto the Navan Road, or pedestrians trying to cross the road to get to a bus stop or access the Phoenix Park, are put at risk by cars that are speeding, but in particular by cars running red lights at that junction. This location would be perfect for red light cameras. I read through this report, which gives us a brief history of red light cameras and of a pilot that was done in 2015, but there is no clarity on how residents in Kempton, or residents in hundreds of other areas that would benefit from this technology, will actually see an improvement in their situations because of the publication of this report. Let us not forget that, in January, the National Transport Authority confirmed that, pending a decision on the strategy that has just been published, it will not proceed with developing camera enforcement at a small number of isolated locations, including proposed sites in Dublin. Therefore, the delay of the publication of this report is the reason the NTA is delaying rolling out enforcement cameras around the country, including in Dublin. Now that the strategy has been published, what will happen next? Is the Minister of State going to indicate to the NTA that he backs red light cameras - not just that he is verbally backing them, but that he will be coming through with funding as well? When will residents in Kempton and the hundreds of other places around the country that could benefit from these cameras see a tangible result from the publication of this report, which has been delayed for so long? In inner city Dublin, there is a specific need for these cameras to keep vital public transport moving, and I would cite the Luas in particular. The Luas green line is experiencing delays in crossing the quays due to drivers remaining in yellow boxes. The Luas cannot get through and, of course, given the length of the Luas, it ends up blocking everything. Targeted enforcement of yellow boxes via cameras would prevent this. Similarly, on the red line, cameras are needed where Luas junctions intersect with car traffic to prevent encroachment on the line, which has previously led to crashes where full trams have been taken out of service. At Doyle's Corner in Dublin 7, for example, one of the busiest intersections in the city for bus and car traffic, there are issues with red light jumping, putting pedestrians at risk and delaying bus routes. Similarly, at the bus gates on the quays, we have seen repeated instances of cars intermingling with buses and slowing down public transport. This is mirrored in other bus lanes, such as the southbound lane from Broombridge. Moving to the home county of the Minister of State, at Eyre Square in Galway, the high volume of pedestrians makes it particularly dangerous when a car runs a red light. Cameras are needed to keep pedestrians safe. The Newcastle Road-N6 intersection is also noteworthy because that junction gets a high volume of cars travelling in both directions. Galway has planned for bus gates to be rolled out as part of BusConnects, whenever that is fully funded. It will need camera enforcement to ensure those bus gates are obeyed and that the issues we are seeing in Dublin, which I have already cited, are not repeated. The city council has not yet said how this will be enforced, but the view of my colleague, Niall Murphy, is that there should be cameras to ensure smooth movement of public transport through the bus gates. These are just a couple of examples of areas where cameras could make a real difference to making public transport more efficient and, in particular, increasing road safety for all users. The Government needs to offer that clarity on timelines and actions. It is important to note, that in the EU context, we are real outliers in this regard. As of today, we have just nine static cameras and five average speed camera zones in operation across the entire road network. We can compare that to France, which has over 4,000, or the UK, where these types of cameras have been part of the fabric of roads policing for decades. In comparison to those countries, it is clear that we are trying to police a 21st century network with 20th century tools. Static cameras are a significant improvement in technology over mobile vans. They are visible and predictable and they preclude behaviour like slowing down for a speed van before speeding up once it is passed. They change behaviour on our roads by being consistent, and that changed behaviour goes on to save lives. The people in my constituency and the other areas I have mentioned will not be protected by a strategy that just exists as a PDF online. We need to see three immediate steps. The first is a definitive roll-out timeline. We need to know exactly when the next 50 cameras and beyond will be operational, not "in the coming months", but with specific dates. Second, we need to see increased roads policing. Cameras are a force multiplier, but they cannot replace the physical presence of gardaí. The decline in the number of dedicated roads policing members must be reversed. Third, we need transparency in revenue and safety objectives. Too often, speed cameras are viewed as revenue raising rather than as the safety devices that they primarily are. We must proactively communicate the safety gains made through the use of cameras. We must ring-fence the revenue earned from them directly for road safety and better infrastructure. We have the means to make our roads safer, we have the data that tells us where the accidents happen and we now have this strategy. What we have to ensure now is the delivery of this strategy. The 185 families who were in mourning in 2025 are looking for us to act. We need to take that action now.

Sentiment score: 0.13