I would like to thank Deputies for their contributions to the debate. I would also like to join with all Deputies and offer my sincere condolences to the family and friends of Grace Lynch on their tragic loss. I am also aware of the incident in Dublin city centre earlier where there was a loss of life and a number of people injured. Our thoughts are with them. As other Deputies have said, I also want to acknowledge the tremendous work of the first responders. I concur with Deputies Mark Ward and Heneghan and I ask people not to share images of the incident online. I hope that people would pay heed to that request. I also want to acknowledge the members of the Order of Malta who are in the Gallery. We all know the tremendous work they do all around the country. I am delighted that they got the opportunity to visit Leinster House. We, in this Chamber, acknowledge the tremendous work they do and I thank them for coming in. I am sure that every Member has, in some way, been impacted by a fatality of our roads. Setting aside party politics, road safety is an area where we all want to see improvements, and most importantly, a reduction in the number of deaths on our roads. While we may not always agree on the exact policies for doing so, I thank Deputies again for their contributions. The Government and the Garda Commissioner take road safety very seriously. Successful road safety strategies requires us to consider several matters that taken together can allow us to save lives. These include technology, road design, driver behaviour and education, severity of penalties, speed limits and enforcement. Ongoing enforcement is a very important aspect of road safety strategy, be that by gardaí, mobile, static and average speed cameras or other technology being deployed. Investing in better, safer roads, continued enforcement of the law and increasing the allocation of gardaí to front-line duties will assist in significantly improving road safety. That is why all uniformed gardaí are directed to undertake 30 minutes of high-visibility roads policing on each tour of duty. This, along with increased Garda numbers, improved technology, additional speed cameras and enhanced data sharing is helping to ensure a multifaceted approach to road safety enforcement in Ireland. I assure the public that we are committed to supporting the implementation of Ireland's Road Safety Strategy 2021-2030. I want to increase public awareness and crack down on dangerous driving. As outlined by the Minister of State, Deputy Canney, earlier, the phase 2 action plan under the road safety strategy will run from 2025 to 2027. The actions in this plan have the potential to be transformative. Work is continuing on implementing this plan. I welcome the progress to date on implementation of the recommendations under the speed limit review, the tackling of multiple learner permits and the work under way to deliver on significant legislative priorities, such as a national vehicle driver file Bill and the next road traffic Bill. To be clear, across provisions and powers set out in the Road Traffic Act 1961, the Road Traffic Act 1994 and the Road Traffic and Roads Act 2023, it is illegal to use an unregistered scrambler in a public place. It is illegal to use a scrambler dangerously in any location and An Garda Síochána has powers of seizure for a vehicle being driven dangerously or which lacks registration, insurance or motor tax or where the driver does not hold the relevant driving licence. In short, outside of appropriate use in appropriate off-road settings, scrambler use is already illegal and enforcement powers exist. As outlined by the Minister of State, Deputy Canney, the Government is now moving swiftly to introduce new regulations that will help to bring additional legal clarity to the existing position that scramblers are banned for use on the road in almost all cases. I fully support the introduction of these new measures. The regulations will explicitly prohibit the use of vehicles such as scramblers in any place where the public might be present, such as private car parks. The regulations will make the mere use of vehicles such as a scrambler in these proscribed locations an offence and significantly increase the charges that accrue each day after a scrambler has been seized, to reduce the number of seized vehicles that are released and end up back on our roads. An Garda Síochána has at its disposal significant enforcement powers and these powers are being used. Between 1 January and 30 January 2025, a total of 449 scramblers, quads, e-bikes and e-scooters were seized in the Dublin metropolitan area. This marks a steady rise in effective performance in this particular area of policing when compared with figures from the same period in previous years. There were 128 seizures in 2024; 67 in 2023; 63 in 2022; and 65 in 2021. These figures are indicative of the Dublin metropolitan region's robust and operationally active policing response to this issue. A new Garda spontaneous pursuits policy was introduced in 2024. This policy aims to provide direction to gardaí, who in the course of their duties, use pursuit tactics and pursuit management to reduce the risk associated with pursuits and stopping of subject vehicles. This applies to any vehicles, not just cars, motorcycles or scramblers. Gardaí must operate within the law and have to be mindful of the dangers to members of the public, themselves and the rider and the issues involved with a pursuit of this type, which could have fatal consequences. Interception poses significant risks, not only to the drivers and passengers of these vehicles but also to the members of the public and local gardaí in affected communities. These difficulties would remain irrespective of any legislative enhancements. In this regard, it should be noted that gardaí have other enforcement options open to them, including investigative expertise to locate and question suspected persons after the fact, which would pose less of a risk to public safety. In recent years, An Garda Síochána has been given significant new powers and tools to enable it to fully enforce road safety laws. Since November 2023, the Motor Insurance Bureau of Ireland, MIBI, has been providing insurance details to An Garda Síochána. Details for 3 million vehicles and 5 million drivers are provided daily to identify vehicles being driven without insurance. In addition, since May 2024, An Garda Síochána now conducts mandatory drug testing at scenes of serious collisions. The publication of the Crowe report highlighted that while most roads policing personnel are committed to their roles, further improvements will enhance enforcement activity on our roads. I welcome the ongoing commitment of the Garda Commissioner to deliver on the recommendations contained in the Crowe report. To that end, I welcome the fact that road safety and collision reduction is included in a strategic commitment up to 2028 under An Garda Síochána Strategic Plan 2026-2028. The plan includes a commitment by An Garda Síochána to strive to reduce the numbers of fatal and serious injury collisions on our roads through robust national education, local enforcement and proactive detection of lifesaver offences, which will increase by 10%. This will be supported by local performance monitoring and strategic collaboration with key partners to improve road safety. Progress towards achieving this service goal will be reported to and assessed by the Policing and Community Safety Authority. At the end of December 2025 in the latest data for the which figures are available, 647 gardaí were assigned to the roads policing units across the country. As gardaí recruitment continues and accelerates, more gardaí will become available to be deployed to priority areas. While significant numbers of gardaí are assigned to roads policing units, all front-line gardaí contribute to policing our roads. Around 65% of drug driving and drink driving checks are carried out by regular gardaí. Of course, it is not just about personnel numbers. Technology will continue to play an increasingly important role in enforcement. Increased numbers of gardaí and enhanced gardaí visibility will form an important pillar to help deliver the Department of justice's action in supporting the National Road Safety Strategy 2021-2030. Managing deployment of resources in a large organisation, such as An Garda Síochána with competing priorities that include roads policing, economic crime, drugs and organised crime, cybercrime and managing front-line policing, is a complex process. Roads policing is one of many competing priority areas. Numbers applied on roads policing remain consistently higher as a percentage with over double of the entire organisation compared with other priority areas. This has been a very useful exchange of ideas and thoughts today on this important issue. The road safety strategy combined with a robust enforcement strategy provides us with the basis to deliver better outcomes on our roads. Behind every statistic, there is a life, family, friends and a community. It is beholden on all of us to make better choices for safer roads and to protect ourselves, our loved ones and all others who use our roads, particularly vulnerable road users. I thank all Deputies for their contributions on this important issue.

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