National Vehicle and Driver File, Road Traffic and Roads Bill 2026: Second Stage Dail Éireann — 2026-09-17 ============================================================ Ruairí Ó Murchú (SF), Louth It is fair to say that we all welcome any moves in relation to anything that streamlines or simplifies, particularly when we talk about road traffic, whether it is from a point of view of retention of information and sharing information in relation to collisions or anything that can lead to something that is safer. We have all seen the absolute slaughter on our roads in recent times. Unfortunately, we have had too many tragic circumstances that are in the public domain that we all unfortunately have to comment on. That does not compare to the families who have been impacted, beyond detrimentally, in many ways, never to be put completely back together again. Coming from Dundalk, it is no different from anywhere else. Everybody has seen the increase in relation to the traffic. We have seen all the issues, particularly anybody who has had to use the M1, M50 or anything in recent times. Even the port tunnel cannot be used at times on the basis of the huge volume of traffic and the fact that this leads to, what are, in most cases, minor collisions. They are minor collisions that have an impact in relation to the problem across the board. Yet we have all the issues in relation to speeding. We have the far worse issue in relation to drug and drink driving. Everybody can improve on the next issue, myself included, in terms of ensuring people are careful. People spend far too long playing with their phones, at times in this Chamber and everywhere else in life, but it can be far more detrimental when people are paying far too much attention to phones in cars where they can impact on themselves and many others on the road. That is something that we have to look at. I will follow up on what Deputy O'Rourke said. In fairness, I do not know how many of us have been knocking on doors and talking to many communities, particularly those involved with schools. We have not always seen a consistency in relation to traffic calming. I could probably name multiple places. I think of the likes of Sheelagh in north Louth. I can also think of one that is, hopefully, happening this year beside Pearse Park in Dundalk. We need to make sure more of these are happening in a quicker way and that we ensure absolute safety. It makes sense that we would streamline the process, that it would happen faster and that we would see a template of best practice operated everywhere it possibly can. We know the issues. I refer to e-scooters. An eight-year-old in Dundalk was stopped on one. There was also the tragic case of Grace Lynch and injuries to many others, both locally and across the State. There is an issue in relation to scramblers. We need to make sure that we have fit-for-purpose legislation and whatever requirements are needed. We know the issue that An Garda Síochána talks about in relation to training. I know it is not always suitable in relation to following and chasing in dangerous circumstances. We have also had the issue of those acting illegally and travelling the wrong way on motorways. A community worker has come to me and I would like to speak to the Minister of State about it afterwards. This would have happened in my own locality. Between hard policing combined with youth workers who would have engaged directly with young people brought some of this happening to a stop. It is something he believes can be delivered across the board. I would like to raise another issue. Paul Brady from Drive Virtual Driving Academy has highlighted the use of simulators. The Minister of State spoke about it himself. He had engaged with the RSA, many politicians and many Government representatives. A process was in play, as well as the possibility of using this. It seems to have stalled. He and I will be requesting some engagement from the Minister of State in relation to it. Those are two particular issues I will be bringing up with the Minister of State. --- 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/2026-09-17/debate/main Retrieved: 2026-09-28T05:50:48+00:00 Sitting date: 2026-09-17