Road Traffic Accidents Dail Éireann — 2026-02-26 ============================================================ Jerry Buttimer (FG), Cork South-Central Enforcement is very important. However, we cannot have a garda on every street corner and junction, as the Deputy will accept. We are using technology and speed vans and increasing the use of average speed zones. The Department has invested in the safe routes to school programme and we have seen an increase in the number of gardaí on the roads engaged in enforcement. Just yesterday morning, when I was driving in here at 7.45 a.m., I saw a Garda Síochána checkpoint on Mount Street, which is very welcome. I take the Deputy's point and I will happily work with her on this. The Department, working with the RSA and An Garda Síochána, will do whatever we can, but there comes a point when we have to talk to ourselves about personal responsibility. Look at the figures on the increase in drink driving and drug driving. I do not understand, in 2026, how any person can sit behind the wheel of a car, lorry or motorbike, having consumed excessive amounts of alcohol and drugs. I am not sure if the Deputy saw the RTÉ documentary two weeks ago, on which a very brave family bereaved as a result of a road traffic accident in County Waterford spoke. Their young son died in the accident. It was powerful and I commend the families on taking part. With that comes responsibility, and we will do what we can. I take the Deputy's point on enforcement, and we must embrace modern technology too. Will we see an avalanche of complaints from certain people because we are using new technology? I do not know but I hope we will not. I will work with the Deputy, and I thank her for raising this important matter. We both agree that there are families in mourning. They are front and centre in our minds. --- Source: Houses of the Oireachtas. Licensed under CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). The Official Report is revised after first publication; the fetch timestamp below identifies the version quoted. Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-02-26/debate/main Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:42+00:00 Sitting date: 2026-02-26