The Road Safety Authority (RSA) is calling for stronger laws to combat the "killer behaviour" of using mobile phones while driving.
The Oireachtas Transort Committee has heard that one in five drivers "check their phones" while driving, and one in ten reported talking on a handheld phone while driving.
The RSA said people perceive this to be "low risk" but that World Health Organization (WHO) research shows that drivers are five times more likely to be involved in a fatal collision while holding their phone.
Sam Waide, CEO of the RSA, said other EU member states use technology to detect people using their mobile phones because "it is written into their laws, it is written into their legislation".
He told the committee that the UK are "trialing camera technology that uses cameras - not just for speeding but also for not wearing seat belts and using mobile phones while driving".
"We completely and absolutely support that technology and the implementation of that technology in Ireland," Mr Waide said.
"If legislation is required then my view, and RSA view, is that we should accelerate that technology in terms of detecting mobile phone use because it is at levels - and our surveys have not quantified the sheer scale of it - it's killer behaviour."
The RSA said its observational surveys have shown that 23% of drivers and 21% of passengers are not wearing their seatbelt.
Its research shows that a quarter of people killed on Irish roads last year were not wearing a seatbelt.
One in ten drivers have reported driving after having at least one drink, in the past twelve months.
Michael Rowland of the RSA said there is a "higher level of social acceptability around drink driving".
Sinn Féin TD, Martin Kenny, asked if technology could be used to "cut out" phone use while driving.
"I spoke to a truck driver, and obviously he is up high and he sees people in cars, and he regularly sees people driving with their knees on their steering wheel while sending text messages," Mr Rowland said.
"He says this is not the odd time, it's regular.
"He spoke to me about a particular woman going to work and putting on her make up while driving.
"People just seem to have this notion that they can live a separate life and that driving is just an accidental thing that they are doing, whereas it requires our full attention."
'Learner drivers waiting 16 weeks for tests' - RSA
The Fórsa trade union told the committee that 40 additional permanent driver tester roles are needed at the RSA and that the appointments should be sanctioned by the Department of Transport as a matter of urgency.
Learner drivers are now waiting 16 weeks to sit their test - down from a waiting time of 30 weeks last summer.
The RSA said waiting times will be back to the ten weeks, as agreed with the Department of Transport, by the summer.
The union also highlighted the precarious working conditions that exist for some driver testers.
"It is currently the case that a significant number of the RSA's driver testers are employed on insecure temporary contracts lasting from 18 months to two years," Fórsa official Ruairí Creaney said.
In its submission to the committee, the RSA said it is currently providing 5,800 tests a week.
There are currently just over 60,000 eligible and available drivers waiting to sit a test.
It said there was a 28% increase in the number of applicants in 2022, followed by a further 16% last year and 4% increase in the first quarter of 2024 compared with the same period last year.
This has coincided with a reduced workforce of testers and a higher demand for staff to conduct tests for buses and trucks.
The driver testing service was given sanction to hire an additional 75 temporary driver testers last year, but just 41 were recruited.
