Road safety and hospital access
Senator O'Donnell pressed for action on the worsening road safety record and also asked that travel arrangements for families attending the hospital be improved.
I want to raise a matter of major importance. We have had eight deaths on our roads in the past four days. In the year to date, there have been 157 road deaths while there were 162 road fatalities for the entire year in 2015. We are now only five off the number of people who were killed on the roads last year; 31 more people have been killed on our roads than at this time last year. There has been a 25% increase in the number of road deaths, from 126, which in itself was not an acceptable figure, to 157. Will the Leader ask Moyagh Murdoch, chief executive officer, and Liz O'Donnell, chairman, of the Road Safety Authority to come to this House prior to the Minister coming in to speak on those figures?
People were killed on the roads in Limerick recently. One factor involved is the huge build-up of traffic. I travelled to this House this morning by train and it took me nearly three quarters of an hour to get from my home to the railway station, which is only a distance of a mile and half. The profile of traffic has changed. During the recession, many people did not have jobs and those who had work were able to find accommodation nearby. Now people are commuting. There is a need for a national debate on the way the structures and demographics have changed. It is now two months prior to the end of the year and with a figure of 157 road deaths, we have nearly the same number as for last year in total. I ask for a debate on this issue in the House with the chairman and the chief executive office of the Road Safety Authority.
The second issue I wish to raise is the new children's hospital in Dublin.
Comment on this
This is very important. I ask that the Minister, Deputy Harris, and the HSE accommodate people travelling from Limerick and rural Ireland in terms of gaining access to the hospital. People will arrive at the Red Cow roundabout on time but it will take more time to get to the hospital and I ask that they be looked after. I am told the reason the hospital is on the site of St. James's Hospital is because it needs to be near adult services. However, there is a human dimension for parents bringing children up to the hospital.
These two issues are very important.