Road Safety: Motion
Seanad Éireann — 2026-02-17
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Gareth Scahill (FG), Nominated by the Taoiseach

I thank the Minister of State once again. When it comes to road safety, I always try to mention the safe routes to school scheme and the large number of primary schools applying for that particular scheme. I think of places such as Trien and Lisacul in Roscommon, to name two, where there are main roads in front of the schools and vehicles speeding by at high speed, but they are not even being considered for that particular programme, never mind having applied for it.
Vehicles have become an awful lot safer in recent years. Of last year's road deaths, 41, or 22%, were pedestrians, 14 were people killed on pedal bikes - that is 8% of those who lost their lives - and three were people on e-scooters. The focus has to switch to awareness. There is an education element there. That is why we have included in this motion examining mandatory awareness classes in secondary schools on the consequences of speeding, and dangerous driving causing road fatalities, involving the Road Safety Authority, local authorities, gardaí, fire brigades and the National Ambulance Service, as well as looking at driving lessons being promoted during transition year. I have to acknowledge that the RSA has such a programme. It is the RSA road safety matters programme, which has ten modules, including speeding awareness, drugs and alcohol awareness, distraction awareness for students, the need for safety belts and vulnerable road users. It also gives students the experience of using drunk goggles and drug goggles. That is very important in empowering and making these students aware of the consequences of the decisions they make.
The Minister of State said nothing is off the table. There was an initiative in the past where a driving instructor was able to provide lessons to transition year students. They paid a certain amount for this but got a voucher when they paid. Once they completed the training, they got that voucher off the price of their first driving lesson. It was a great way of bringing those students on and empowering them in the schools. If nothing is off the table, I would love the Minister of State to consider a pilot like that for a county like Roscommon, as I am sure everyone else would. Senator Kennelly used up my time but he did not get to ask for that particular element of it.
There was a great announcement today of €1.5 billion for roads. We must welcome that but when we look at it, we are talking about €14 million of that for 280 low-cost road safety projects. That is a very small spend in the grand scheme of what we are delivering. It is definitely something we need to look at. I welcome the investment in our roads but we need to improve a lot of the rural and local roads. We definitely need to look again at the safe routes to school scheme to make the safety initiatives better and more accessible outside our schools.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/seanad/2026-02-17/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:38+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-02-17