138. Deputy Joe Cooney asked the Minister for Transport the measures being undertaken by his Department to prevent road traffic collisions across Ireland. [53027/26]

The current framework for road safety is set out in the Government’s fifth Road Safety Strategy which has the target of reducing road deaths and serious injuries by 50% this decade.

The Phase 2 Action Plan under this Strategy was published last July, for the period 2025–2027. This Action Plan comprises 12 primary transformative actions and 77 supporting actions. My Department is responsible for the central co-ordination of the Road Safety Strategy and it is overseen at Ministerial level by the Road Safety Leadership Group (RSLG). Minister Sean Canney chairs this Group and it is attended by the Minister for Justice and Home Affairs and Migration.

Delivering the Action Plan is a collaborative effort involving my Department, the Department of Justice, Home Affairs and Migration together with An Garda Síochána, the Road Safety Authority, Transport Infrastructure Ireland, National Transport Authority, the Courts Service, Medical Bureau of Road Safety, Health and Safety Authority and the Local Authorities.

The Deputy will note there are many experts across a range of partners collaborating to take action and deliver positive road safety outcomes, and I would like to assure the Deputy that progress is being made.

Key deliverables for this year include passing the National Vehicle and Driver File Bill 2025 to allow Local Authorities to resume accepting and processing collision data. We are also addressing the long-standing issue relating to repeat renewal of learner permits with regulations coming into effect this November.

The National Safety Camera Strategy was published in April, fulfilling a Programme for Government Commitment. It provides a framework for increased deployment of cameras across the road network in urban and rural locations. The Strategy focuses on speeding, red light running, and bus lane infringements, with flexibility for the enforcement of other types of offence in future. A Camera Enforcement Oversight Group (CEOG) has been established to deliver the strategy, chaired by Anne Shaw, the CEO of the National Transport Authority and comprising senior leaders from AGS, NTA, TII, RSA, the Courts Service and the Local Authority sector. The inaugural meeting of the Group took place in June.

The Deputy might wish to know that this year €14 million has been allocated under the Low-Cost Safety Improvement Scheme to support small-scale engineering measures to address identified road safety issues, representing an increase of €1 million (approximately 8%) on 2025 allocations.

We know that education is a critical factor to changing behaviour and I am pleased to note that this year, the RSA has again ringfenced funding of €18 million for road safety awareness, education and promotional campaigns focused on making our roads safer for all road users, including and especially vulnerable road users.

My focus as Minister, the focus of my Department and of all the road safety stakeholders who we work with, is on the delivery of the Phase 2 Action Plan. This Action Plan was developed by experts, based on Irish experience while considering best practice in other countries and our focus must be on the delivery of these agreed actions.