Colm Brophy (Dublin South West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the opportunity to speak on this Bill. I wish to discuss a number of issues but there is a limited amount of time to do so before the Topical Issue debate.

First, I welcome the overall thrust of the Bill, particularly with regard to the ability to change and adjust speed limits. I come from the local authority background of South Dublin County Council which is a very proactive local authority in examining, reviewing and enforcing speed limit adjustments in the area, contrary to what some Deputies might think. I am not in favour, therefore, of a mandatory limit being introduced. If we believe in local government, local democracy and devolved decision-making, one of the key areas in which we should facilitate that is in allowing our local public representatives, who live within the community and have first-hand knowledge of what the impact of adjusting speed limits would be, to continue to be the primary deciders. Having a national mandatory 20 kp/h area is not the right solution and I believe it would be almost impossible to define it. However, if we allow that power to remain with the local authorities, we are effectively saying that they can introduce this regulation on a case-by-case and estate-by-estate basis.

I would particularly like that to happen. In my contribution later, I would like to discuss how, when we introduce a speed limit of 20 km/h, we determine the area and the limit. That is the key point in regard to mandatory limits and local authorities.

If I have time, I will refer to one of the points that arise concerning the introduction of 20 km/h speed limits. Regardless of the speed limit, I would certainly not support the removal of speed ramps or any such infrastructure from residential areas. I do not believe local communities would support that. As a public representative, I have never received requests to remove speed ramps when they have been put in. The vast majority of local communities I represent have campaigned for very many years to try to reduce speeding within residential estates. I grew up in an estate with 700 houses. It had many long roads and there was a real fear of speeding. When we could get an occasional speed ramp or introduce a traffic-calming measure, it was always welcomed.

One of the main reasons I favour traffic-calming measures, which is related to one of the problems with the introduction of a 20 km/h speed limit in housing estates, is that it is very difficult to enforce an effective regime for checking for speeding. I have learned this from my conversations with members of An Garda Síochána. Given the distances required, it is not often possible to record a car's speed in the types of housing estates where one would want to introduce a 20 km/h speed limit.

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