Minister for Transport Eamon Ryan and Minister of State James Lawless have — with Cabinet approval — set in train an approach to split the Road Safety Authority into two quangos, which goes against a recommendation in a report they commissioned.
The report said that the Department of Transport should “assume national responsibility for road safety awareness campaigns, road safety education, and co-ordination of activities of the multiple partner organisations.”
A Department of Transport press release this afternoon repeated the idea that the Ministers were following the “core recommendation” that there should be a separation between the services sections of the RSA, such as the vehicle testing and licensing functions and the functions around road safety education, communications and research.
However, part of that “core recommendation” was to keep the Vehicle and Driving Licencing and Standards Authority/Agency separate from the Department of Transport but to roll education, communications and research functions into the Department.
The Department of Transport said: “It is envisaged that the RSA will be reformed into two independent agencies, one focused on the delivery of services and operations and the other responsible for wider road safety initiatives including media campaigns, education and research. Government has today approved the development of a comprehensive implementation plan to progress this reform.”
An explainer note further said: “In the longer term, based on the Review’s findings, Government has today agreed the recommendation of a separation of these activities, with the current RSA to be re-formed to become an operations-focused agency and a new agency to take ownership of wider public interest activities.”
In government terms, agencies are bodies that are linked but operate independently of departments.
However, the approach of setting up a new agency goes against the recommendations of the report on the further of the RSA by consultants Indecon.
Under the header “Role of Department of Transport”, the Indecon report said: “The Department of Transport should assume national responsibility for road safety awareness campaigns, road safety education, and co-ordination of activities of the multiple partner organisations.”
It added: “In line with the new responsibilities, the Department should establish an authoritative and well-resourced function within the Department, encompassing behavioural analysis and road safety communications, to implement its new role and to work with the Road Safety Transformation Partnership Board to ensure delivery of the Government’s Road Safety Strategy.”
IrishCycle.com asked the Department if it could clarify why a new independent agency is being set up when the recommendation from Indecon clearly said that the “Role of Department of Transport” would include what’s suggested for the new agency.
While this request for comment was sent today after regular working hours, the Department received the request and was still issuing press releases after that time.
It is understood that the Department will take up a sort of “caretaker” role while the process of setting up a new agency is ongoing.
Jason Cullen, chairperson of the Dublin Commuter Coalition, which was one of the groups leading that called for the disbandment of the RSA, welcomed the confirmation today.
“We are delighted to see that our campaign for reformation of the RSA has been successful. The former body not only failed to deliver the measures of its own VisionZero strategy to reduce the number of serious injuries and deaths on our roads, it also failed to manage the vehicle testing and licensing function within its remit as well,” he said.
He said that the campaign for reformation of the RSA has been “a collective effort across a wide range of active and public transport and community groups.”
Cullen added: “It is essential that the new body with responsibility for road safety is empowered to deliver real change on our roads so that they are safe for everybody and that the road users are treated with respect, regardless of their mode of transportation.”
As part of the Department press release, Minister Ryan said: “In recent years have seen this long-term improvement go into reverse. Every single death is a tragedy for the victims’ families, friends and community, and it is incumbent on everyone working in the sector to look at what we’re doing and change the approach to ensure our roads are as safe as possible.”
He added: “This reform of the RSA and wider road safety structures aims to deliver a more effective whole-of-Government response to the deteriorating fatality and serious injury trends on Irish roads.”
He also said that he would like to acknowledge the work of Liz O’Donnell, the RSA’s outgoing chairperson, over the last ten years.
Minister of State Lawless said: “Although there are still many issues to work through, the reform that we are announcing today will put a renewed and sharpened focus on road safety and help us to progress toward our long-term goal of Vision Zero, as set out in the Road Safety Strategy.”
He added: “By reforming the RSA into an agency with a singular operational focus and establishing a standalone entity to deliver wider public interest activities, I believe we will realise substantial benefits with improved provision of key road safety services.”