Minister of State at the Department of Transport Jack Chambers has described a recent rise in road deaths as "alarming".
So far this year, there have been 108 deaths on the country's roads, that is up 13 on the same period last year.
Gardaí and the Road Safety Authority are warning that years of progress on road safety is being undone, as the numbers killed on the roads hit a six-year high.
They say that if the trend continues, there could be 168 deaths on Irish roads by the end of the year.
Sarah O'Connor, Director of Partnership and External Affairs with the RSA, said: "We have seen an increase of 13 [road fatalities] on last year and 24 on the year before.
"So that's literally the opposite direction that we want to be going in. And that's something that we have to stop."
Ms O'Connor added that with this weekend motorists really have to take extra care as there are two Status Orange weather warnings in place for wind and rain, as Storm Betty is set to hit the south coast this evening.
Met Éireann is forecasting heavy rain with thundery downpours, combined with very strong winds on coasts at times.
Ms O'Connor said people really need to slow down in this type of weather and that is "a much bigger piece than just obeying the speed limits.
"It's about knowing what the driving conditions are like and knowing what the weather conditions are like, and driving at a speed that's appropriate to the place we find ourselves in."
One worrying feature that has been identified this year is the high number of young people losing their lives on the roads.
Minister Chambers described this as "particularly upsetting".
"Twenty-six young people between the age of 16 and 25 have died on the roads so far this year. That's 26 families throughout the country living with this loss, and the impact can be felt throughout communities."
Ms O'Connor agreed and said this was a "significant area of concern for the RSA".
She suggested that there may be a broader societal conversation to be had around driver behaviour for younger people.
"So are we sitting down with a young person in our lives ... to say okay, look, I'm aware that there's this piece of my driving or my roads use behavior that I need to pay attention to, whether it's mobile phone use, whether it's speeding or anything like that," she said.
"Is there something that you could identify, can we treat this as a team? Let's try this week to tackle that to make a difference."
The rise in road deaths has prompted a call from road safety campaigners for increased policing and increased visibility on the roads.
Susan Gray, who founded the road safety group PARC in 2004 after her husband Stephen was killed in a crash with an with an unaccompanied learner driver, said that enforcement seems to be the only way that people will learn.
She wants to see more checkpoints, more gardaí and more road policing units.
In response to a query from RTÉ News, the Department of Justice confirmed there are currently 678 gardaí assigned to the Roads Policing Unit, which is an increase of 55 on 2017.
A spokesperson said: "The Garda Commissioner is operationally responsible for the management and administration of An Garda Síochána, including the allocation of garda members to a given unit.
"The minister is assured that the commissioner keeps the allocation of resources under continued review to ensure their optimum use."
