Ross ‘unnecessarily confrontational’, says RSA chairwoman

Road Safety Authority (RSA) chairwoman Liz O'Donnell accused Minister for Transport Shane Ross of being "unnecessarily confrontational'' in a sharp exchange of letters and emails.

This followed Mr Ross’s decision last September to reduce the RSA board membership by two to six members. The RSA wanted an increase in board members.

The correspondence, published in the Sunday Independent, revealed Mr Ross had claimed the RSA was "amateurish and inexplicably cavalier'' in its approach to detail.

He described its annual report as a “sloppy piece of work’’ with “embarrassing’’ misprints and “grammatical howlers’’.

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Mr Ross said board members had “sporadic interest’’ in board attendance, adding he was not convinced the reappointments of certain board members were in the interests of road safety or assisted in the mission of the authority.

Ms O’Donnell, a former TD with the now defunct Progressive Democrats who served as a minister of state, replied she regretted the Minister’s tone was “unnecessarily confrontational’’.

Errors in annual report

She said a request to have four existing board members reappointed arose as a result of discussions between officials in Mr Ross’s department and RSA officials.

The Minister, she added, had been sent detailed biographies and additional information on the board members, outlining their contribution beyond that of attendance at board meetings.

Ms O’Donnell said she regretted there were errors in the draft of the annual report and that some remained in the final draft.

“However, I am assured that none were of a material nature,’’ she added.

Mr Ross had written he would be interested in what Ms O’Donnell had done about the low attendance records of some board members.

Ms O’Donnell replied it was true some board members had missed meetings due to “personal or professional reasons’’, but added his claim of an “a la carte attitude’’ on the part of named board members was “ill-judged and offensive’’.

Ms O'Donnell said the RSA had been successful in reducing road deaths since its establishment in 2006 from 365 to 166 and it was highly regarded by the public and Oireachtas members.

She noted with disappointment a “significant increase’’ in road deaths in 2016, adding it made it all the more important the board could perform its statutory functions to its full potential.