AN IRISH BISHOP is pleading with road users to “take responsibility” and for families to have conversations with each other about road safety ahead of a ‘blessing of the roads’ ceremony tomorrow.

Bishop Fintan Monahan has described the number of deaths on Irish roads this year as a “national tragedy” and a “failure in both public policy and in our own personal driving behaviour”.

174 people died in 160 fatal collisions in the Republic of Ireland last year. Together with fatalities in Northern Ireland, more than 240 people died in collisions on the island in 2024.

The issue garnered significant public attention last year as the government, Road Safety Authority and gardaí faced pressure to take measures to tackle the high numbers.

In a statement this morning, Bishop Monahan said there is an “urgent need for a collective effort to reduce these preventable deaths”.

“It is crucial that families take responsibility for road deaths by discussing road safety at home.  Every loss of life on our roads is a tragedy that impacts not just the individuals, families and local communities directly, but our entire society,” he said.

“Once a leader in road safety standards, Ireland now has one of the fastest-growing road death rates in Europe,” he added.

“So many of these tragic fatalities are preventable, and an improvement requires constant care, attention, and vigilance from all road users: motorists, motorcyclists, cyclists, or pedestrians, as well as effective partnership with the relevant civic authorities.”

The bishop is due to pray for the protection of road users at a ‘blessing of the roads’ ceremony tomorrow after Mass at the Cathedral of Saints Peter and Paul in Ennis, Co Clare.

He said that “the road safety record, both in the Republic and in the North, is of deep concern to me”.

“The pain felt by loved ones of those lost on roads is particularly acute as this loss of human life is entirely preventable.”

At the end of the year, RSA chief executive Sam Waide said a reduction in the number of fatalities from 181 in 2023 to 174 in 2024 was an “very modest but important step in reversing the high number of road deaths we’ve seen over the past two years”.

Minister of State with special responsibility for Road Safety James Lawless said his “department is focused on making our roads safer for everyone who uses them”, while Assistant Garda Commissioner Paula Hilman said gardaí have been “working around the clock every day of this year to help keep road users safe”.