Jack Chambers (Dublin West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

We are trying to synchronise this next year by councils. There are also inconsistencies between local authority areas, meaning that Clare and Limerick, for example, might move at different times and have different limits. There could be rural roads running between both counties that have different limits, for example.

It is not a homogeneous approach. It is a balanced approach that seeks to have a new default baseline while allowing local authorities to revise limits upwards where it is safe to do so. As I said earlier, the speed limits on motorways, national primary roads and regional roads which are currently set at 120 km/h, 100 km/h and 80 km/h, respectively, are remaining the same in the default limits. What we are changing is the default limit on rural roads, which is dropping from 80 km/h to 60 km/h; on urban roads, which is dropping from 50 km/h to 30 km/h; and on national secondary roads, which is dropping from 100 km/h to 80 km/h. At the same time, we are giving local authorities the discretion to revise those limits upwards where it is safe to do so. It is not a homogeneous approach. We are setting a safer default baseline and then allowing local authorities to revise speed limits upwards. The guidance will be balanced in setting that out as well.