Taoiseach and Road Safety Authority meet today amid spike in deaths and serious injury

Taoiseach Simon Harris and the Road Safety Authority will discuss the rising number of deaths on Irish roads. Picture Denis Minihane.

The Taoiseach is to hold a meeting on Monday with the Road Safety Authority (RSA) to discuss a worrying upward trend in traffic fatalities.

Simon Harris is to discuss the spike in deaths and serious injury on Irish roads with the RSA and the possible measures to address the reversal of the progress made in recent years on road safety.

More than 60 people have lost their lives on the roads so far this year.

Mr Harris is eager to meet RSA representatives ahead of chairing a meeting of the Government’s road safety ministerial committee in the coming weeks. He will also discuss the significant backlog in driving tests.

The Taoiseach met with Garda Commissioner Drew Harris and Justice Minister Helen McEntee on Friday where road safety was also discussed. The Garda Commissioner has ordered that all uniformed gardaí must conduct 30 minutes of “high visibility roads policing” in their shifts to combat bad driver behaviour.

The move follows hard-hitting comments by the head of the RSA, Liz O’Donnell, who said there needed to be a significant ramping-up of visible enforcement to combat bad driver behaviour.

Today, Monday, Mr Harris will chair his first meeting of the cabinet committee on housing to discuss the Government’s continued progress with a focus on faster delivery.

The Fine Gael leader has promised to deliver 250,000 new homes by 2030.

However, he has indicated that this will not mean an even 50,000 units each year and instead delivery will be ramped up.

At his party’s ard fheis at the weekend, Tánaiste Micheál Martin said the “biggest worry” for many is finding a home to buy or rent. He said: 

There is no other area where the pressure of our rapidly-rising population has had as much impact. People are right to be impatient.

He said that while over 100,000 houses had been built since Fianna Fáil entered Government, this was “just the start”.

In particular, he said that the new Planning and Development Bill aims to stop delays of “urgent housing projects”, while also referencing the Land Development Agency being established.

School meals scheme expanded

Meanwhile, some 900 additional primary schools are to be approved for the school meals programme from today, Monday. One of the largest expansions of the initiative to date, it means an additional 150,000 children will benefit from hot meals at school.

The announcement is being made by Taoiseach Simon Harris and Social Protection Minister Heather Humphreys.

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In addition, Ms Humphreys will confirm that any remaining primary schools whose pupils do not yet receive hot meals in school can now express an interest to join the scheme and will be enlisted in the coming months.

The hot school meals programme was introduced in 2019 as a small pilot of 30 schools. Today, pupils at some 2,000 primary schools are eligible for the scheme.