Road Safety Dail Éireann — 2026-02-26 ============================================================ Joe Cooney (FG), Clare Seven in every ten fatal collisions take place on rural roads with a speed limit of 80 km/h or higher. These are the very roads I have highlighted here today. Half of all fatalities occur between 8 p.m. and 7 a.m. when visibility is at its worst. I recognise that road maintenance is expensive but we have a responsibility as a country to do everything possible to reverse the rise in road deaths. Simple low-cost measures can make a real difference and the evidence is out there to be seen. I urge the Minister of State and his Department to upgrade the requirements and make road markings and cat's eyes compulsory on all regional roads and on busier local roads. These basic safety features should not be optional. They save lives and should be in place everywhere they are needed. --- 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