McDowell pledges extra gardaí to end road carnage

THE number of gardaí working in the Traffic Corps is to be doubled to 1,100 in a bid to stop the carnage on the roads, Justice Minister Michael McDowell said last night.

Mr McDowell also confirmed the Government is considering appointing a new Minister for State to take full responsibility for road-traffic enforcement. He said additional funding for the expansion programme has been secured and 550 gardaí currently being trained at Templemore will join the Traffic Corps by September 2006.

He said he would bring the proposals for the establishment of a special traffic enforcement junior ministry before ministers soon. He said one of the main problems in curbing road deaths at the moment is that two departments - Justice and Transport - have responsibility for road safety.

“We should have one minister in charge of road traffic enforcement - possibly a Minister for State,” Mr McDowell said.

So far this year, 103 people have been killed on the roads. The latest victim - 28-year-old Mary Gunson, from Ballintinoe, Nenagh, Co Tipperary - was killed when the car in which she was travelling struck another car at Birdhill, Co Tipperary, on Saturday night.

However, it also emerged yesterday a Government-appointed expert group on road safety has not met in six months, according to the Irish Insurance Federation (IIF) and the National Safety Council. The High Level Group on Road Safety, which comprises of the Departments of Justice, Health and Transport, in addition to the gardaí, the National Safety Council, the Courts Service and others, has not met since last September, according to Niall Doyle of the IIF, who said a meeting was urgently needed to tackle the climbing death toll on our roads.

“We fervently hope this minister is not being deflected. He is the owner of the road safety strategy and if he doesn’t introduce these two pieces of legislation, they can throw the strategy in the bin,” he said.

Mr Doyle said the number of road deaths could be halved if the measures were introduced.

The National Safety Council has also criticised the Government’s commitment to tackling road carnage. Chairman Eddie Shaw told the PD annual conference in Cork at the weekend that the Department of Finance’s failure to provide money was one of the “big blockages” to the enforcement of road safety.

“We could save at least 140 lives a year and prevent a further 1,200 serious injuries if the Minister for Justice was given the proper resources for the Traffic Corps,” Mr Shaw said.