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THE CEO OF the Road Safety Authority has welcomed news that the Garda Traffic Corps is to be reformed into a different road policing unit.
Moyagh Murdock was responding to reports in today’s Irish Times that plans were being considered by senior Garda management that would bring sweeping changes to parts of the force.
These changes are in response to the revelations that gardaí had inflated alcohol breath testing figures by over a million tests.
Speaking TheJournal.ie at the RSA’s annual ‘Seatbelt Sheriff’ awards for children, Murdock welcomed a proposed overhaul of the Garda Traffic Corps.
“I welcome the reports today that the commissioner is reforming the Traffic Corps and it’s becoming the roads policing unit,” said Murdock.
And we would welcome the actual commitment to increasing the Garda resource numbers in roads policing and road safety because clearly they have been depleted over the years and it’s very important that we reverse that trend.
Murdock said that motorists and people who had been affected by death on the roads had “all felt very let down” by the recent Garda revelations.
“This was a big body blow to find out that the numbers were completely inaccurate so we have to now work forward from this here and try to address that problem as soon as possible,” she said.
Murdock said that it was important for the gardaí and RSA to work together to reduce the number of road deaths on Irish roads after it increased in 2016.
When questioned whether she had confidence in the ability of the gardaí or the Garda Commissioner to reduce these deaths, Murdock said she didn’t want “to get drawn into a political argument”.
“I don’t want to get drawn into a political argument now I think what we really want to see is the commitments being delivered upon in terms of resources and we want this addressed,” she said.
Murdock again called for an independent assessment or an independent oversight of Garda stats to figure out how breath testing errors occurred and to ensure that the same issues didn’t arise again.
The Garda Commissioner Nóirín O’Sullivan has been under strong political pressure to clarify how the inflated figures occurred and to take decisive action.
A number of politicians have said she should step down in her role, while Sinn Féin has tabled a motion of no confidence. Fianna Fáil has also refused to express confidence in O’Sullivan.
The Irish Times reports that a new roads policing unit would move away from depending fully on speed checks and breath testing as measures of activity towards more general roads policing.
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Great idea fair play. Now if we could just get people to stop littering in the first place….
All suggestions welcome.
Make people who are caught littering have to pick up litter for a week. A lot to be said for community service.
Yep don’t litter ! Or else big Paul gonna sort ya out.
People who use selfie sticks need to be excommunicated from society.
Public crime deserves public shaming. Saturday and Sunday in a busy mainstreet near there home. With their name on a bib . Put them in the paper or on tv after the angelus. They do it in Bolivia for a host of offences. Just need wardens on commission to enforce it. Draconian but I bet it would work.
Take more than a weekend. All sponsored by a tax exile
The tax exile that puts money directly into the community and charities alike whilst bypassing bankers paydays?
Fair play to JP, Paul O’Connell and everyone involved in this idea. Ideally something like this shouldn’t be needed, great getting the people of Limerick together and invoke a community spirit that has disappeared in recent years. Good to see Limerick in the media for a feel good story like this instead of the usual portrayal by the national media.
Well done Limerick. Great idea for getting people out and about and working as a community.
Great work Paul
Well done to all involved and the weather is also improving…it will be a beautiful weekend in Lovely Limerick
I’ve often wondered couldn’t the authorities request all the customers from the bin collection services and anyone who isn’t paying to have their rubbish taken away be questioned as to what they are doing with it? I mean it’s a disgrace we have a beautiful countryside and its being ruined.
Great to see. As generations have passed I have felt we’re all getting a little more self involved and losing what made /makes Ireland great, community spirit. Activities like this make you proud in a way that maybe we’ve still got it.
I recommend anyone should do a clean up with their local tidy towns at least once to see what people do to our countryside!
We talk about promoting Ireland as a place for tourists and for business yet we have one hand tied behind our back with people who throw out rubbish from their cars etc into the hedgerows and verges of our roads!
Not one word about JP McManus???
He’s mentioned in the piece, Danny
Jp donated 150,000e to the cause and help organise high visi vests and paying Mr binman to collect the rubbish
Thats not me at all. I was in Dublin today giving Joan one
A great day for Limerick.
A great idea! Should be done every year in the future.
JP and Paul are a credit to Limerick.
Well done!
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