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Removal of Road Safety Authority’s advocacy role ‘would be backward step’, chairwoman argued

Delays to driving tests and NCTs, and rising road deaths, led to Minister’s concern over RSA

Former Road Safety Authority chairwoman Liz O’Donnell. Photograph: Tom Honan
Former Road Safety Authority chairwoman Liz O’Donnell. Photograph: Tom Honan
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Martin Wall
Sat Jan 18 2025 - 06:00

Deep within its press statement on budget day last October setting out the €3.9 billion it was receiving, the Department of Transport announced that the agency charged with promoting road safety was to be restructured.

In 2006 broadcaster Gay Byrne had been appointed by the then government as chairman of a new Road Safety Authority to “lead the thrust to improve safety” at a time when the number of fatalities was running at more than 360 a year.

Almost 20 years later, road deaths were on the rise again – 2023 was the worst year for road deaths in almost a decade, with 184 deaths, a 19 per cent year-on-year increase.

Motorists also faced long delays in securing driving and national car tests, responsibilities of the RSA.

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Newly released correspondence between the RSA and the department shows the deep concern within the State agency at changes planned by the Government to address these problems.

[ Ministerial and public frustration at driving test delays led to Road Safety Authority break-up review, board said ]

Following a review by consultants Indecon completed in September, Ministers in the Department of Transport wanted changes, and Cabinet approved restructuring proposals in early November.

Essentially the RSA had two roles: overseeing the delivery of driving and national car tests, and running advocacy and educational campaigns aimed at promoting road safety.

The Government appeared to believe the State agency was falling between the two.

The Department of Transport said the RSA would, in time, become a Driver and Vehicle Services Agency, focusing on driver licensing and testing services, while a new, dedicated Road Safety Office would run road safety awareness, education and promotional campaigns.

In interviews in October, James Lawless, Minister of State with responsibility for road safety, said that, on its operational side, the RSA had been “under par”, and waiting times for national car and driving tests were unacceptable. He said for three years the agency had missed its targets and that people who paid fees for these services deserved to have them delivered in a timely manner.

The RSA welcomed the Indecon review. It wanted reforms to its funding model – based largely on fees generated from driving and national car tests – which it considered to be no longer fit for purpose.

[ More than 68,000 learners awaiting driving test, some as long as seven months ]

However, the RSA board became deeply unhappy at the proposed changes.

The then RSA chairwoman Liz O’Donnell wrote to Lawless and expressed “serious concern” that the authority’s advocacy role could be moved to a new entity or back to the Department of Transport.

“Over the years, more and more activities have been added to the remit of the RSA, all of which are outlined in the Indecon report,” she wrote in correspondence released to The Irish Times under the Freedom of Information Act.

“However, as regards our core road safety mission, insufficient value has been attributed by Indecon to the importance of the independence and autonomy of the RSA.”

O’Donnell, whose 10-year tenure as chairwoman of the RSA came to an end in November, said losing or changing the RSA brand and transferring its public interest functions back to the department “would be a backward step”.

“The board is very strongly of the view that the RSA, if given adequate resources and enhanced powers, can provide the all-of-government leadership and co-ordination needed to implement the Road Safety Strategy,” said the former deputy leader of the Progressive Democrats.

Mr Lawless told Ms O’Donnell there had been no comprehensive review of the RSA since its establishment in 2006 and that in the intervening period “much had changed”.