182. Deputy Tom Brabazon asked the Minister for Transport if his Department will consider funding a national programme to redesign the 50 highest-risk road sections. [20989/26]

186. Deputy Marian Harkin asked the Minister for Transport if there are measures being put in place to redesign the 50 deadliest road sections; and a timeline for same; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [21043/26]

I propose to take Questions Nos. 182 and 186 together.

As Minister for Transport, I have responsibility for overall policy and exchequer funding in relation to the National Roads Programme. Under the Roads Acts 1993-2015 and in line with the National Development Plan (NDP), the planning, design and construction of individual national roads is a matter for Transport Infrastructure Ireland (TII), in conjunction with the local authorities concerned. This is also subject to the Infrastructure Guidelines and the necessary statutory approvals.

I understand from TII that TII does not rank roads against each other, but instead operates a dedicated Reactive Road Safety Programme for the national road network. Under this system—set out in TII standard GE-STY-01022 (“Network Safety Ranking and Prioritisation – Reactive Approach”) collision data is used to identify high-collision locations (1km sections) across the network.

Where such sites are detected, TII formally notifies the relevant Local Authority and requires the Local Authority to propose a scheme, as the road authority, to address the issues identified. TII subsequently provides funding for targeted safety improvement schemes to address the issues identified. This process is detailed in GE-STY-01036 (“Road Safety Improvement Schemes”). On average €26 million is allocated to this programme each year.

For more information on the Reactive Road Safety System please see this website: https://cdn.tii.ie/publications/GE-STY-01022-03.pdf and for more information on the Improvement Scheme process, please see this website: https://cdn.tii.ie/publications/GE-STY-01036-01.pdf

Separately, TII has recently published the Network-Wide Road Safety Assessment (NWA). This safety rating system evaluates approximately 2500km of the national primary road network by combining both historical collision data and data from current proactive infrastructure inspections. The website can be viewed here: tii-nwa-2024-map-national-primary-roads.pdf

In respect of the regional and local road network, in accordance with the provisions of Section 13 of the Roads Act 1993, each local authority has statutory responsibility for the improvement and maintenance of their regional and local roads. Works on those roads are funded from local authorities' own resources and are supplemented by State grants.

Where a fatal road traffic collision occurs, the relevant local authority engineer and investigating member of An Garda Síochána meet at the site of the collision and jointly complete a collision report form named LA16. This is an action of the Road Safety Strategy 2021 - 2030.

The completed LA16 form, outlines the details of the collision, weather conditions and road conditions including signage, road markings, speed limit, roadside environment and classification of the road etc. These forms are submitted to the Roads Management Office who maintain the dataset.

My Department also funds a Network Safety Analysis of the Regional and Local Road Network across the entire country. Using available collision datasets high collision locations are identified and Locations of Interest (LoIs) reports are produced.

These LoI reports are then issued to the relevant local authority and form the basis for application for funding under the Safety Improvement Schemes Grant. In 2026 my Department allocated €14 million in Safety Improvement Schemes Grant to the sector which is funding over 330 safety schemes nationally which is an 8% increase over the 2025 allocation.