LAST UPDATE | 15 Apr

NEW CAMERAS WILL BE introduced in Dublin by next year that will capture people breaking red lights, Transport Minister Eamon Ryan has said. 

So far this year, there have been 63 fatalities on Irish roads, an increase of 15 on the same period last year. Last year, 184 people lost their lives on Irish roads, up almost 20% in a year and 33% higher than before the pandemic.

Taoiseach Simon Harris is to meet with the Road Safety Authority (RSA) today to discuss the spike.

Speaking to reporters this afternoon, Minister Ryan said surveys have found a “large number of people are breaking lights” and described this as a “huge safety concern”. 

He said cameras are to be introduced later this year or next year that will automatically capture people breaking red lights. These cameras will first be introduced in Dublin, the Minister said. 

Speaking to RTÉ’s Morning Ireland earlier, Ryan said that reducing the of people killed or seriously injured on Irish roads is a “first priority” for the Government.

The Green Party leader put much of the onus on local authorities to change speed limits on roads, but added that enforcement must also be ramped up.

Reducing speed is key in reducing road deaths, and Ryan says local authorities will reduce limits “later this year”. This would include reducing the speed limit on non-national primary roads from 100km to 80km and the limit in urban areas from 50km to 30km.

“We always said it was going to take to the end of this year and we will deliver that.

“You’d always want to try and change everything immediately but changing every single road sign, changing every single road and all the traffic arrangements around that does take time.”

Three more speed cameras that measure average speed, not just speed at a particular point, will be introduced to catch offenders. This system is already in place in the Port Tunnel in Dublin.

Ryan said the government is spending around €937 million this year on road maintenance.

“We’re asking our roads authorities to put a particular focus on where there are accidents, where there are junctions or other elements of a road network which are a cause or a partial cause the problem, that that’s what we need to spend our money on,” he said.

Mobile phone use by drivers is one of the main contributing factors to serious road crashes over the past year, a senior garda said recently.

Ryan acknowledged that advertising and campaigns around phone use and seat belts also have a part to play.

The European Commission will tomorrow hold its annual road safety conference in Dublin, which Ryan says will give the government the chance to engage with the best research on the issue.

With reporting by Hayley Halpin