Results 441-460 of 1,040,788 for in 'Dáil debates' OR in 'Committee meetings' (speaker:Damien English OR speaker:Ivana Bacik OR speaker:Pauline Tully OR speaker:Catherine Murphy)

Public Accounts Committee: Financial Statements 2022: Road Safety Authority (27 Jun 2024)

Damien English: Does the RSA have a view on this?

Public Accounts Committee: Financial Statements 2022: Road Safety Authority (27 Jun 2024)

Damien English: Please forward that to the committee.

Public Accounts Committee: Financial Statements 2022: Road Safety Authority (27 Jun 2024)

Catherine Murphy: I want to focus on disqualified drivers. Something like 1,800 learners were disqualified in 2023 and only 3% of them surrendered their permit to the Road Safety Authority. From a parliamentary question reply, I discovered that only one driver out of the 10,000 who were disqualified in court in 2022 and 2023 was then convicted of not surrendering their licence. In the UK, for example, a...

Public Accounts Committee: Financial Statements 2022: Road Safety Authority (27 Jun 2024)

Catherine Murphy: We then come back to the level of enforcement and the data that the Road Safety Authority collects, for example, if somebody is detected as having been driving while disqualified. Data is going to be important. In the case of fatal accidents where people were driving unaccompanied with a learner permit in the last five years, does the Road Safety Authority separate out that information so...

Public Accounts Committee: Financial Statements 2022: Road Safety Authority (27 Jun 2024)

Catherine Murphy: Thank you for that information. Information is going to be very important, in particular, how the Road Safety Authority is going to apply that information to reduce the number of fatalities. To move to a different subject, what was the totality of fines for non-adherence to the NCT timelines applied to the company that was outsourced to do that job in the last couple of years?

Public Accounts Committee: Financial Statements 2022: Road Safety Authority (27 Jun 2024)

Catherine Murphy: “Service credits” sounds very positive.

Public Accounts Committee: Financial Statements 2022: Road Safety Authority (27 Jun 2024)

Catherine Murphy: Is that how the contract is structured?

Public Accounts Committee: Financial Statements 2022: Road Safety Authority (27 Jun 2024)

Catherine Murphy: I will move to another topic. In terms of defining the safety of roads, is it solely based on the absence of accidents and fatalities or does the Road Safety Authority look at it from the point of view that they may be used by, for example, children and vulnerable road users? What is the metric used? How does the Road Safety Authority determine that?

Public Accounts Committee: Financial Statements 2022: Road Safety Authority (27 Jun 2024)

Catherine Murphy: I do know a little bit about this. I know about road design, the speed for each road and all the rest of it, and I know we have a lot of very old, small rural roads. I would ask the Road Safety Authority to add something on the speed limits. A few years ago, the national lower speed limit was set at 80 km/h to achieve consistency and the local authorities rushed out and bought a load of 80...

Public Accounts Committee: Financial Statements 2022: Road Safety Authority (27 Jun 2024)

Catherine Murphy: A national speed limit was set and local authorities were supposed to comply with parameters and different types of roads. The speed limit of 80 km/h was routinely used. For example, where locations had a lower speed limit, that was to be increased to 80 km/h. I am not sure that it is-----

Public Accounts Committee: Financial Statements 2022: Road Safety Authority (27 Jun 2024)

Damien English: We are here to discuss the figures and the budget and to focus on the bang for our buck. It strikes me that we drive the roads every day, and none of us is a saint. The figures are going the wrong way. Given what we are seeing on the roads, it is amazing that the figures are not a great deal worse. The figures do not capture how serious this is. We are in a really difficult situation in...

Public Accounts Committee: Financial Statements 2022: Road Safety Authority (27 Jun 2024)

Damien English: Should it not be on the advice of the RSA, Who is advising whom? That is all I need to know.

Public Accounts Committee: Financial Statements 2022: Road Safety Authority (27 Jun 2024)

Damien English: So it is RSA advice. Let us be clear.

Public Accounts Committee: Financial Statements 2022: Road Safety Authority (27 Jun 2024)

Damien English: Mr. Rowland gave the impression that it was not the RSA. The RSA's advice is that someone over the age of 70 should not drive a bus.

Public Accounts Committee: Financial Statements 2022: Road Safety Authority (27 Jun 2024)

Damien English: I know that. I am not a medical person. I am not saying Professor O'Neill is right or wrong. I want to know who is making the decision. Where does the buck land? Is it the RSA and not the national office for traffic medicine?

Public Accounts Committee: Financial Statements 2022: Road Safety Authority (27 Jun 2024)

Damien English: Not on RSA advice.

Public Accounts Committee: Financial Statements 2022: Road Safety Authority (27 Jun 2024)

Damien English: I note that, I appreciate that and I agree with it but what of in-car technology? Are we missing out on the use of technology in the vehicles?

Public Accounts Committee: Financial Statements 2022: Road Safety Authority (27 Jun 2024)

Damien English: I do not want to hog the meeting. Mr. Waide believes that and I sense he is right. My question was who is responsible for driving that? Is it the RSA, the Department or us? Who or where is the responsibility? Nobody has the answer.

Public Accounts Committee: Financial Statements 2022: Road Safety Authority (27 Jun 2024)

Damien English: There was the question about insurance and tax. I know I am being a bit of a nuisance but this is useful.

Public Accounts Committee: Financial Statements 2022: Road Safety Authority (27 Jun 2024)

Damien English: The question I asked is this: is your car insured if you do not have a certificate of roadworthiness?