Senior officials from the Departments of Transport and Justice, as well as gardaí, the Road Safety Authority and Transport Infrastructure Ireland, are to meet on Friday to discuss motorway road safety.
The meeting at Leinster House follows a number of recent incidents on the country’s motorway network and will be hosted by the Minister of State with responsibility for Road Safety Seán Canney.
In a statement, Mr Canney said he wanted to bring key road safety partners together to discuss what can be done to improve safety on motorways.
Mr Canney said it is “a complex issue which has many causes” and that it will “not be easily solved”.
“It is important that we continue to work together and look at every practical measure available to make our motorways as safe as possible for everyone who uses them,” the minister added.
Harris says social media firms ‘platforming illegal activity’
There has been a “breakdown in respect for authority” and the “value of life”, the Tánaiste has said, as he spoke about the crash in Co Kildare in which five teenagers were killed.
Simon Harris said there are deep societal issues which need to be examined, saying it is multifaceted and crosses social media, government, the criminal justice system and road safety issues.
“We are now seeing almost a breakdown of authority or any respect for authority in society. On occasion, we’re seeing a lack of respect for the value of your own life. We’re seeing a lack of respect and understanding of the value of human life, the lives of others.”
Watch: Ireland seeing ‘a breakdown in respect for authority’ – Tánaiste
Mr Harris also accused social media companies of “platforming illegal activity” and said they had a lot to answer for.
He said the era of self-regulation was over and he would encourage all social media companies to cooperate with the Dáil.
He strongly criticised the actions of social media companies saying they had a lot to answer for, including “the platforming of illegal activity, the amplification of that illegal activity, the culture around almost encouraging, for want of a better phrase, copycat activity of illegal activity, the algorithms and how the algorithms can spread toxicity, division, hatred.”
He also criticised TikTok’s decision to refuse to attend an Oireachtas committee hearing, calling it regrettable, disrespectful and unhelpful”.
The social media giant has said it has offered to meet the Oireachtas Committee on Media in private to discuss the posting of videos of people engaging in illegal activity.
Last week, a TikTok spokesperson said that it could not attend the committee in a public sitting because of the garda investigation into the M9 crash on 16 August, a separate examination by Coimisiún na Meán, and the fact that it is the only company to have been asked to attend.
Five teenagers were killed when the car they were travelling in was driven the wrong way on the motorway and collided head-on with another car.
Four members of the same family – three women and a seven-year-old boy – in the second car were seriously injured and remain in hospital.
Mr Harris said he understood that there was an active garda investigation under way along with a probe the media regulator.
“But we live in a democracy, and the people of this country have legitimate questions that they want answered and that they want information on. And the people’s representatives, TDs, and senators want to be able to ask those questions. So, I think there should be a mechanism found here that can move this issue forward,” he said.
He added that the issue was broader than the role of social media companies.
“I don’t want the conversation to stop there. I think we will have failed to get to the bottom of this issue, this deep-rooted, deep-seated, multifaceted issue, if we say it’s just about social media. It’s not. There’s a huge issue around social media, absolutely. But there’s broader issues going on here as well that we have to unpack.”
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