At the outset, I wish to sympathise with the family of Grace Lynch and also with anyone who was affected by the collision on North Earl Street this morning. In the light of all of this, and the increase in the roads deaths in 2025 - 190 people died on our roads last year, that is, 190 families shattered, 190 chairs empty at kitchen tables and 190 sets of hopes and dreams suddenly cut short - I want to pick the Minister of State up on what he said about whether the powers An Garda Síochána has are being used. Is he seriously saying the Garda is using those powers enough? We have seen certain pockets around the country, such as in Limerick, where gardaí know who are using these scramblers illegally and have the powers to go in and seize them. The Minister of State mentioned that they can enter the curtilage of homes and take the scramblers. I understand that in all the circumstances where such scramblers were seized by the Garda in the Limerick area, not one protest or court case was brought by families trying to get them back. It is simply not correct, or else it is disingenuous, to say the powers are being used because they are clearly not being used enough around the State. Of course we need trained Garda scrambler units, and drones and other technology that already exists but has not been used, but we need the Garda to use the powers it has, go into homes and take those scramblers off our streets because that clearly has not been happening. We also need accountability for the adults who are providing these scramblers to the mostly young men who are using them. We need stricter regulation of e-scooters also, not just keeping up with what is there. Helmets and hi-vis gear must be mandated and proper enforcement needs to be used by An Garda Síochána against those who are using e-scooters at over 20 km/h. The serious injuries, including the massive increase percentage-wise of horrific brain injuries to mostly young men, demand that stricter action be taken by using the powers that are already there, and that is clearly not being done. In 2020, as the Minister of State mentioned, Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael committed to Vision Zero to drastically reduce fatalities by 2050. Not only have they failed to reduce road deaths, however, but deaths have increased, whereby we had 190 deaths last year, the highest level in more than a decade. The Minister of State's colleague in government mentioned earlier that statistics had been brought down in 2021 to a low point but did not say that this was in the middle of the Covid pandemic when there were fewer people on the road. Using that as a statistic is not painting the full picture, to put it mildly. This is a failure of responsibility, a failure of investment and a failure of leadership, not only by this Government but by the last Government. While Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and their supporters Deputies Healy-Rae and the regional Independents will point to the fact that there are flashy announcements, reports and new legislation, it does not really amount to anything meaningful. The Minister of State has already rowed back on a commitment to disband the RSA, as had been recommended by an independent review commissioned by the Government. It was announced at the time when the review was published with much fanfare but it has resulted in no meaningful change - change that is much needed. Did it really have to take another tragedy on our roads to bring about legislation that Sinn Féin has been calling for for over a decade and a half? Unless the legislation is actually enforced, of course, it means very little to the people it is supposed to protect. Let us be clear: road policing is at crisis point. It has been for some time. In September 2025, there were only 640 gardaí in roads policing units across the entire State. Despite repeated promises to get this in order, there are barely any more than there were in 2024 and 406 fewer gardaí than there were in 2009. These are more empty promises at a time when road deaths have been increasing. There has been a decrease in road policing numbers. The deaths are increasing. The Minister of State needs to step up and give us the reason for this and the excuse. There was also another independent review of a system that was defined by a culture of poor performance in An Garda Síochána. What steps has the Minister of State taken to address gardaí parking up for shifts, turning off automatic number plate recognition, ANPR, systems and operating without supervision? The number of deaths demands an answer to that.

Sentiment score: 0.02