The Galway TD and Minister of State with responsibility for Road Safety has vowed that 2026 will be a year of renewed focus for his Department on tackling fatalities on Irish roads.

After a year that saw an alarming increase in road deaths, Minister Seán Canney expressed his deepest sympathies to all families and communities who have lost loved ones on Irish roads during 2025, describing the year as ‘devastating’.

“Every life lost on our roads is a tragedy. Each person was a loved family member, a friend or a neighbour, and their loss leaves behind devastated families and communities. My thoughts are with everyone who has lost a loved one this year,” Minister Canney said.

The Minister said the scale of loss underlines the need for renewed focus on road safety and shared responsibility among all road users.

“Road safety concerns us all and improving it must involve us all. Alongside strong legislation and enforcement, we all have a personal responsibility – never drink or drug drive, always wear a seatbelt, never use a mobile phone while driving, slow down and avoid distraction. These actions save lives.”

Minister Canney noted that three of the last four years have seen increases in road fatalities and said recent trends are particularly concerning.

“It is especially worrying that we are seeing increases in fatalities among pedestrians and older people,” he said.

“In 2025, around 50 per cent more people over the age of 60 lost their lives on our roads than people under 30. This shows that road safety affects every age group and every community.”

The Minister said the Government is delivering a whole-of-Government response through Ireland’s Road Safety Strategy and Phase 2 Action Plan 2025–2027, which aims to halve road deaths and serious injuries this decade and work towards Vision Zero by 2050.

As part of this work, the Government has also established the Road User Safety Forum to ensure that the voices of road users, including victims and their families, are directly heard and reflected in road safety policy and its implementation.

The Action Plan is grounded in the internationally recognised Safe Systems approach and focuses on the three Es of road safety – Enforcement, Education and Engineering – delivered in partnership with An Garda Síochána, the Road Safety Authority and other key agencies.

Key measures already delivered include closing the loophole that allowed repeated renewal of learner permits without sitting a driving test and reducing the default speed limit on rural local roads from 80km/h to 60km/h, covering approximately 80 per cent of the road network.

Local authorities have also been directed to review existing speed limits in built-up and urban areas and, where appropriate, to introduce 30km/h limits, with updated bye-laws to be completed by March 2027.

On legislation, Minister Canney confirmed that work is progressing on the National Vehicle and Driver File Bill 2025, which is expected to be enacted in the first half of next year.

Further reforms are also being prepared, including graduated speeding penalties and camera-led enforcement of mobile phone and seatbelt offences.

Looking ahead, Minister Canney said further actions will be considered in 2026.

“The number of lives lost on our roads this year is unacceptable. I will continue to drive delivery of the Action Plan and consider further measures to arrest this trend. Every death is one too many.”

Pictured: Seán Canney, Galway TD and Minister of State with responsibility for Road Safety