Carol Nolan: Cameras Welcome, Footpaths Needed Now
Carol Nolan welcomes the publication of Ireland's first national camera safety strategy and argues cameras alone cannot protect children. Speaking in the Dáil, she cites a walkability audit at Cloneyhurke National School and calls for urgent investment in footpaths and local road upgrades.
Key summary
Carol Nolan praises the national camera strategy as a positive step to reduce speeding and save lives, but stresses it is only one part of road safety. She highlights real-world danger for schoolchildren and families and urges action beyond enforcement.
Local evidence and urgency
Nolan cites the Green Schools Walkability Audit from Cluny Hark National School: 97% of vehicles were breaking the 50km/h school time limit during drop-off, 83% exceeded 60km/h and some were recorded at over 100km/h. She describes missing footpaths, blocked hard shoulders and flooding road surfaces that force children to walk on the road.
Limits of enforcement
While welcoming cameras, Nolan warns that cameras catch offenders but do not build footpaths, resurface roads or install traffic calming. She argues that enforcement must be paired with concrete investment in infrastructure, especially around schools.
Local infrastructure failures
Nolan points to delays on the Tullamore-Kilbeggan link road (N52) as an example of years-long waits for basic road upgrades. She says funding was held by TII until sustained pressure placed the project on the National Development Plan.
What Nolan calls for
Nolan urges the Government and relevant agencies to match the national camera strategy with on-the-ground measures: footpaths, resurfacing, correct signage and traffic calming at school zones. She frames this as a practical safety priority for communities across Offaly and the country.
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Comhairle, I welcome the publication of Ireland's first national strategy in terms of camera safety. Any measure that reduces speeding and saves lives on a road is certainly worth considering in a constructive manner. Across the country, thousands of schools and communities will breathe a sigh of relief when they hear this news because far too many parents are sending their children to school every morning with their hearts in their mouths. Just yesterday, parents at Cluny Hark National School contacted me with the shocking results of their Green Schools Walkability Audit. 97% of vehicles were breaking the 50km per hour school time limit during drop-off. 83% were travelling at over 60km per hour and some were recorded at over 100km per hour. There is still no footpath between the school and the community hall. Children and parents are forced to walk on the road while cars block the hard shoulder. The road surface floods. The signage times are wrong. The situation is simply unacceptable and it certainly poses some difficulty and risks in terms of children's safety as well. So yes, cameras will be welcomed by schools like Cluny Hark. But let us be honest, cameras catch offenders. They do not build footpaths. They do not resurface roads or install proper traffic calming measures. That is the glaring contradiction at the heart of this government's approach. While the department rolls out national camera strategy, communities in Offaly have been left waiting years for basic road infrastructure. The Tullamore Kilbeggan link road on the N52 is a case in point. For over a decade we were told funding was in the pipeline. TII kept its grip on the money. Only recently, after repeated and ongoing pressure, and I certainly raised this issue many a time in here, it has finally received approval and has been placed on the National Development Plan. Count Corla, road safety cannot be delivered by enforcement alone. We need cameras but we need concrete and we need proper infrastructure and particularly around schools where there's no footpaths in many cases.
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