Unmarked lorry to be added in road policing plan

James Cox

An unmarked lorry will soon be introduced as part of a new roads policing measure.

The Garda Commissioner expects the HGV cab to be out and about in the coming weeks.

This new move from Garda Commissioner Drew Harris is an effort to clamp down on distracted driving.

It's the latest in a number of measures being introduced to help tackle the rising number of road deaths - which currently stands at a figure of 79.

The introduction was announced by Mr Harris at the Joint Committee on Transport and Communications.

He stated it would be just one of a number of innovations set to be introduced in the next few weeks.

Independent TD Michael Healy-Rae believes the move is a publicity stunt.

Mr Healy-Rae told Newstalk: "He wants people to be saying, 'oh, he's doing something about it'. In actual fact, he's doing nothing.

"What he should be doing, is he should be going to the Minister for Justice. He should be saying 'you use your position around the Cabinet table to ensure the minister for local government and environment gives enough funding to the local authorities to allow the engineers, road stewards and foremen on our roads to carry out the works that we want to do'."