THE GOVERNMENT HAS rolled back on its plans to disband the Road Safety Authority (RSA), The Journal can reveal.

The announcement that the RSA would be disbanded and split into two separate organisations was made in late 2024 by then Minister of State with responsibility for road safety, James Lawless. 

At the time, Lawless said it was a “binding” decision that was being made because the operational side of the RSA (which is responsible for driving tests and coordinating the NCT) was “not working” and because the organisation’s safety promotion remit was “also not where it needs to be”. 

The plan was to split the authority into two, with one new agency responsible for services and the other for road safety.

It came following an independent external review of the RSA, which recommended the split. 

However, in an interview with The Journal, the current Minister of State with responsibility for road transport, Independent TD Sean Canney, revealed that the plans have been shelved. 

Asked where things stood with the RSA and whether it was “business as usual”, Canney said: “It is”.

He said there are no plans to split the organisation “for the moment”. 

The Galway East TD said the RSA is “not a huge organisation” and to split it up would create “a lot of cost and a lot of whatever else”. 

“What are you achieving? What we need to do is to reinvigorate the RSA and to make sure that they can have strong communications in terms of safety on the roads. They’re doing a good job on the driving testing at the moment, and in all they do with the testing of cars.

“So I think it’s a matter of shaping it up rather than splitting it up,” Canney said.

Juniour Minister Sean Canney. Rollingnews.ie Rollingnews.ie

The decision to disband the RSA came in the midst of a road safety crisis, which has only gotten worse in 2025. 

Already this year, we have surpassed the total number of fatalities seen on the roads in 2024. 

As of 16 December 2025, 180 lives have been lost on Irish roads this year, an increase from the 164 lives lost in 2024. 

Asked about the causes of the recent rise in road fatalities, Canney (who is responsible for road safety) said it was down to a number of factors, including driver behaviour such as speeding and distraction, and increased cars on the road.

“We probably should be doing more enforcement,” Canney admitted, noting that more investment is needed in things like stationary speeding cameras.

Despite Canney saying that greater enforcement is needed, he said he is satisfied with the approach taken by gardaí at the moment. 

“We could do with more guards on the road, more presence on the road. Make a statement…In fairness to the gardaí, they are doing everything they can, and their numbers are beginning to grow, so hopefully we will see more people come into the Traffic Corps,” he said.

Canney said he would like to see an increased focus on preventing drink driving and that in 2026 he would start, as he put it, “socialising” the idea for a roll out of more car ‘interlock’ devices.

These are essentially breathalysers in individual cars that prevent the car from starting if the driver is over the limit. 

Canney said the government will be working to nudge private firms and state organisations with large vehicle fleets to roll out such devices on a voluntary basis.