An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business
Dail Éireann — 2026-03-18
============================================================

Jim O'Callaghan (FF), Dublin Bay South

The Deputy is right that human behaviour is the biggest cause of fatalities and accidents on our roads. I know he is not suggesting otherwise, but people themselves need to recognise that looking at their phones and consuming alcohol or drugs will expose them not just to risk of fatality and car crash, but also to being apprehended by An Garda Síochána. That will result in increased insurance costs and time off the road and make it very difficult for their lives professionally in the future.
I have spoken to the Commissioner. There is obviously a requirement for gardaí to devote a certain amount of time to roads policing. The figures the Deputy has given indicate that there is a lot of roads policing ongoing, but it is a balancing act as well. There is much other important work the Garda has to do, so I cannot just ask the Commissioner to devote a majority of resources to roads policing. People have a responsibility as well. I will keep a close eye on the matter.

---

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/2026-03-18/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:45+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-03-18