Garda Commissioner Drew Harris will tell the Oireachtas Committee on Transport today that staff numbers in the force’s road safety operations are not being reduced.
Commissioner Harris will appear before the Joint Committee on Transport and Communications to answer questions over the rising number of deaths on Irish roads.
He will insist that he takes road safety “very seriously”, vow to reduce the number of road deaths, and express his “deep concern”.
“I want to reassure this committee and the public, that there is certainly no organisational policy to reduce numbers in our Roads Policing Units,” his opening statement reads.
Mr Harris is expected to offer his sympathies to the families of the 72 people who have lost their lives on Irish roads this year.
“We are committed to working with our partners and communities to ensure our roads are a safer place for all,” he will tell the committee.
To this end, the commissioner will point to the implementation of “a number of key measures which have proven success in curbing poor driver behaviour”.
These include the “30 minutes of high visibility roads policing duty during every uniform tour of duty” – something which has been criticised by rank-and-file gardaí.
“In the first four weeks of the 30-minute operation, which commenced on 12 April, we saw increases in detections based on a comparable period in March,” Commissioner Harris will say.
He will point to a 55% increase in fixed charge notices issued for mobile phone use, which saw 2,148 such notices issued.
That brings to “7,557 fixed charge notices in respect of mobile phone use so far this year.”
Since 12 April, there was a 40% increase in breath tests conducted at checkpoints, rising to 19,100, and a 17% increase in the number of drivers caught driving under the influence, with 736 such incidents recorded.
That brings to 2,870 the number of drivers caught intoxicated, under the influence of alcohol or drugs, so far this year.
While he will concede that the force is “facing pressures in terms of resourcing”, Commissioner Harris will deny that staff are being taken from traffic safety.
“We plan to add 75 gardaí to roads policing this year and a further 75 in 2025,” he will say.
“Currently, we have advertised a competition for new allocations to Roads Policing Units in the Eastern, North-Western and Southern Regions.”
He will also note that “allocations to Roads Policing Units in the Dublin region have already commenced from an existing panel”.
