Road Traffic (Amendment) (Jax’s Law) Bill 2026: First Stage
Dail Éireann — 2026-09-16
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Emer Currie (FG), Dublin West

Deputy Ward and I are moving this Bill today, but it would not be before the House without Saoirse Aylward's extraordinary strength and determination. Saoirse was 31 weeks pregnant when she lost Jax as a result of a road collision. She was preparing for his arrival, had chosen his name, had charted his progress at hospital appointments and listened to his heartbeat, and then she had to say goodbye to her baby boy. My words cannot do justice to what Saoirse has been through, but I know that having lost her son she felt retraumatised by the justice system because while Saoirse was recognised as a victim of that collision, the loss of Jax was not.
At the moment when Saoirse and her family looked to the law for justice, the law was silent, but Saoirse Aylward was not. She has fought for Jax and every family who have found or could find themselves facing the same devastating circumstances. Careless or dangerous driving can be prosecuted on indictment when it results in death or serious bodily harm. This Bill would extend that to where such driving results in the loss of a pregnancy of at least 23 weeks' gestation or a foetus of at least 400 g. That change matters. Prosecution on indictment means these cases can be treated as serious criminal offences in the Circuit Criminal Court, with the wider sentencing powers that brings. This Bill would also allow the Minister to direct the Road Safety Authority, RSA, to collect and publish statistics on pregnancies lost as a result of a road traffic collision - losses that currently go unrecorded.
Saoirse and Jax's dad, Nathan, are here today alongside Susan Gray of PARC Road Safety Group, who supports victims and their families in navigating the system after a devastating loss, and Colleen Langan, who continues to campaign for justice for her aunt. Saoirse refused to accept the silence of the law and today this House has the opportunity to answer her. The Minister of State, Deputy Canney, is listening and responding positively. I hope we can now work together to deliver the change that Saoirse has fought for and justice for Jax.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-09-16/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-09-28T05:50:48+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-09-16