ALL UNIFORM GARDAÍ will have to carry out 30 minutes of roads policing per shift, under a directive from Garda Commissioner Drew Harris. 

So far this year, there has been 63 fatalities on Irish roads, an increase of 15 on the same period last year. 

In a statement, Harris said that despite collective efforts to date, there continues to be an increase in fatalities on Irish roads. 

The Commissioner said that given the rise in fatal collisions, An Garda Síochána must adapt its policing initiatives to increase safety on the roads. 

“Our international policing partners, utilise all police officers to focus an element of their shift in traffic environment. This approach complements increased visibility and compliance by motorists for road traffic legislation,” Harris said. 

“Therefore, with immediate effect, each Regional Assistant Commissioner will utilise all uniform personnel, core and non-core, deploying them on high visibility roads policing operations, of 30 minutes’ duration in each tour of duty,” he said. 

“Supervisors will ensure compliance with this direction, with the exception of where exigencies of the service arise.”

The Road Safety Authority (RSA) has today welcomed the news from the Garda Commissioner. 

RSA chairperson Liz O’Donnell said that “enforcement is key to tackling this problem”. 

She said the directive from Commissioner Harris will ”result in increased Garda visibility on our roads and acts as a deterrent to dangerous drivers”.

“This deployment can save lives,” O’Donnell said. 

“Speeding and acceptability of speeding have been consistently high since 2020 and have yet to return to pre-Covid levels, while the social acceptability of drink-driving has also increased post-Covid,” she said.

“There needs to be a significant step change in order to get back to normal levels of compliance.”

O’Donnell is due to meet with Taoiseach Simon Harris and other senior ministers on Monday. 

Two men are in critical condition in hospital today a serious collision on the M9 at Kilkenny yesterday evening.

This incident comes following two fatalities on Irish roads since Wednesday.

A man, aged in his 20s, died yesterday following a two-car collision in Co Kerry on Wednesday and another man, also aged in his 20s, died following a crash between a car and a lorry in Cork yesterday morning. 

In the first two months of 2024, there were 7,647 checkpoints carried out on Irish roads. 

A total of 878 arrests were made for drink driving offences and 488 arrests were made for drug driving offences.