The transport committee has been discussing the topic of road safety for the past six months. We have heard detailed and often very upsetting evidence from a range of organisations, from cycling groups all the way through to the Road Haulage Association, and the one point that unites them all is that they all do not have confidence in the Road Safety Authority, RSA. The Tánaiste will recall that in 2024 a radical reform of the RSA was proposed. This would have split it up and allowed the authority to focus on the central issue of saving lives. In December of last year, the Minister of State, Deputy Canney, and the Minister, Deputy O'Brien, scrapped that reform plan. The Minister of State attended the transport committee yesterday. He doubled down on scrapping the reform plan and said that he would prefer reform from within. Eighteen months into the lifetime of this Government, we have still no idea of what those reforms actually are. A total of 190 people died on our roads last year and 79 have died to date this year. Does the Tánaiste have confidence in the RSA or does he agree with the organisations and families of victims that want to see real reform of this organisation?

I thank Deputy O'Gorman for raising this issue. I acknowledge the very good work that has been done by the Oireachtas committee, which is chaired by my colleague Deputy Michael Murphy, who continually keeps me apprised of this work. I very much look forward to the report of the committee. My message to everybody on the committee is that we should not rule anything out in relation to steps that may be needed. I approach this issue with humility. In the context of what we are doing in relation to road safety, I can only say that we need to do more. I am not satisfied that the current structures are delivering the outcome we need, but I also want to hear from the committee and to see if there can be a cross-party consensus as to what the next steps should be. I have heard different ideas from different victims' groups, including the idea of a road safety commissioner and the like. There is some logic in that. I also think of where the Road Safety Authority is today versus where it was in the past. We think of Gay Byrne and all of that era.

I have an open mind on this. I will engage with the Minister, Deputy O'Brien, and the Minister of State, Deputy Canney, but, from my perspective, the next important development is the report on road safety, which I think we expect relatively shortly from the Oireachtas committee.