The Government has done a spectacular U-turn on its decision to disband the Road Safety Authority (RSA), and split it in two, some 12 months after announcing the move and saying the authority was "not working".
Road deaths have continued to climb this year, with 164 people killed so far in 2025 compared to 151 last year. Two men in his 20s became the latest victims when they were killed in crashes in Co Tipperary and Co Limerick last night and in the early hours of this morning.
And while the overall increase in road deaths is a real concern, the number of cyclists killed on the roads so far this year, at 14, has already exceeded all of last year, when 11 were killed. In only two years since 2002 were more cyclists killed on the roads of the Republic; 15 cycling deaths in 2007 and 15 in 2017.
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After an independent review, which was completed by consultants last year, the Government's plan was to split the RSA into two entities. One would be responsible for services and one for road safety.
However, Minister of State for Transport Seán Canney has now defended the U-turn and the Government's decision to ignore the findings and recommendations of the review last year.
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He claimed the RSA had improved its performance over the last 12 months, including bringing down the average waiting time for driving tests from 27 weeks to 10 weeks.
“It’s better to solve the problems that are within the organisation than to be just splitting it up,” Mr Canning said “I think the biggest area of non-delivery would be in the area of road safety campaigns being more visible.
“The Road Safety Authority is an authority that should be out there and should be more engaging in relation to the fight against road collisions and road deaths.
"It’s a small organisation, it’s a maximum of 500 people, creating two boards, two chief executives, creating all of that, but what actually are you achieving by it?
“I’ve read the Indecon report and I take on board what they have said. They’ve produced a number of different options and I’ve decided at this stage it is better to try and work within so that we actually get a more efficient and a more working road safety authority.
“They do a huge amount of work, the driving testing, the truck testing, they’re responsible for all of that as well as the road safety messaging and I think there is a lot of room for improvement and I would be working with them, with my department officials to make sure that we bring in these changes.”
