The move comes following a horrifying fatal accident which occurred on the road on Monday this week in which 44-year-old William O’Donoghue from Mitchelstown and 46-year-old Michael Hallinan from Balla, Co. Limerick were killed. The NRA has officially confirmed that they will carry out an official safety review on the road in conjunction with the Gardaí as a result of the accident.

The NRA have said however that the design of the road which opened in July 2006 is fully compliant with all modern safety standards and that it was standard practice for officials to make safety examinations at the scene of fatal accidents.

Local criticism of the road has included concerns that a climbing lane close to the site where the fatal accident occurred merges into one on the brow of a hill which critics say could lead to drivers not familiar with the road being on the wrong side of the road as they pass over the brow of the hill.

Despite the shocking events of Monday, a report just publshed by the European Safety council shows that in 2006 fatal road accidents in Ireland decreased by 11 per cent meaning that Ireland is now ranked 12th lowest for road deaths out of 29 EU countires.

Noel Brett, Chief Executive of the Road Safety Authority commented, “This is a very positive report and clearly shows that Ireland is making considerable progress in reducing deaths. The good news is that while this report has tracked Ireland’s progress up to the December 31 2006 the downward trend in road deaths has continued in 2007.

“For example since the introduction of Mandatory Alcohol Testing, the doubling of penalties for drink driving offences, the computerisation of penalty points, the introduction of penalty points for mobile phone offences and the establishment of the RSA there has been a 25 per cent drop in deaths which translates into 100 lives saved on our roads. Indeed to date this year there are 19 fewer fatalities on our roads compared to the same date last year. We are confident that when this report is produced again in another twelve months Ireland’s ranking in Europe will have improved even further.”

Mr Brett concluded, “This report acknowledges that road users in Ireland have changed their behaviour on the roads which has translated into lives saved and injures prevented. Irish roads are safer and that is steadily improving”.

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