Staffing below 2009 levels
The increase comes after dedicated roads policing units numbered 641 gardaí as of mid-2026, compared with 1,046 officers in the Traffic Corps in 2009. Figures published by An Garda Síochána and compiled by the PARC Road Safety Group put the reduction at almost 400 officers.
Gardaí reported more than 4,600 arrests for driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol between January 1 and June 30, 2026. That represented an average of one driver arrested every hour throughout the first half of the year.
Deaths and fatal collisions increase
Provisional Garda statistics as of October 23 put the year's road death toll at 152, up from 139 during the same period in 2025. Fatal collisions also increased, from 134 to 141. The figures remain subject to change.
The rise follows what An Garda Síochána described in July as the highest annual road death toll in a decade in 2025.
Younger people accounted for almost a third of those killed, according to provisional Garda figures released on October 22 and reported by RTÉ News. Those figures recorded 45 deaths among people under 25, compared with 32 over the equivalent period of 2025.
The October 22 figures also showed that seven multiple-vehicle collisions had claimed 17 lives in 2026. The crash with the most deaths occurred on the M9 in August, killing five young men.
Dublin records the most fatalities
The county figures reported by RTÉ News as of October 22 showed 21 deaths in Dublin, the highest total in Ireland. Cork followed with 13, while Meath and Donegal each recorded 10.
Clare and Kildare each had nine road deaths in 2026, up from two apiece in 2025. Offaly was the only county that had recorded none.
Road Safety Authority reform plan expected
Road safety minister Seán Canney said in October that he expected to receive an implementation plan for reforming the Road Safety Authority "in the coming weeks," according to the Irish Examiner.
The previous Government had approved a plan in November 2024 to divide the RSA into two bodies. The current Government abandoned that proposal in December 2025.
