The Irish Road Haulage Association (IRHA) has accused government of a “damaging U-turn” claiming it had abandoned plans for substantive reform of the Road Safety Authority (RSA), despite committing to the changes following a high-level report last year.
IRHA president Ger Hyland said the decision would result in more road deaths, prolong dysfunction in the driving test system and leave in place a publicly funded body that he said has been widely criticised as unfit for purpose.
Mr Hyland called on Minister Seán Canney to outline the cost of the Indecon Consultants report into the RSA that recommended that the organisation be dramatically reformed, a report that is now being ditched by Government.
He added: “Eamon Ryan set a low bar as Transport Minister, but Seán Canney is following the same path, presiding over a period marked by rising road deaths and deepening failures in the driver testing system. As Minister of State at the Department of Transport, he has prioritised short-term cost savings over measures that would protect lives. For that, he should hang his head in shame.”
The IRHA says it notes with alarm that road fatalities in Ireland are ever increasing and that independent reviews recommended structural reform of the RSA precisely because the current framework is failing the public and the transport sector.
Yet, in a move Mr Hyland described as “both baffling and irresponsible, Minister Canney’s handling of RSA reform ranks among the most inept actions we’ve seen from a Minister in the Department of Transport since Eamon Ryan — and that’s saying something. The roads are our workplace and we are frightened at the escalating dangers our drivers are facing every day”
Mr Hyland accused Minister Canney of operating in a Leinster House bubble whilst ignoring key stakeholders in the transport industry,
“Minister Canney has abandoned meaningful reform of the RSA — despite clear recommendations from independent reviews — that means more people will die on our roads, some of them hauliers. That means our driver training and testing system will continue to be a shambles”
Minister Canney’s public dismissal of stakeholder expertise and evidence-based recommendations highlights a troubling pattern of disengagement from those on the frontlines of Ireland’s road transport sector, according to Ger Hyland.
The IRHA has been on record warning that delays and inefficiencies in driver training and testing, and broader RSA operations — including issues highlighted previously by haulage companies — impose real costs on businesses, drivers, and the performance of our rural economy.
