Thomas Byrne (Meath East, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

In September 2023, the Department of Transport published a speed limit review. This review made key recommendations that the default speed limit on national secondary roads should be reduced from 100 km/h to 80 km/h, on local roads from 80 km/h to 60 km/h and on roads in built-up areas from 50 km/h to 30 km/h. These changes were legislated for in the Road Traffic Act 2024, signed into law in April.

The Deputy will recall that national legislation sets default speed limits for different classes of roads but the final decision will be with local authorities, who can leave them at the default or apply different limits through so-called "special speed limit" bye-laws. This is quite right, because it is the local councillors and local authorities who are best placed to assess the characteristics of each road and apply the appropriate limits, in light of safety and traffic management considerations.

Implementing the changes requires local authorities to review the roads in each of the three classes affected and to consider whether the new default or another limit may be appropriate. This is a large task, and therefore the implementation of the changes is being undertaken in phases, with local roads being treated first. The Department has worked closely with the local authorities towards implementation, and has issued new guidelines to assist them.

In light of the complexity of the work, the Department has agreed that the new local default limit, originally intended to come into effect in late November, will now take effect from early February.

Changes to national secondary road speed limits and speed limits on roads in built-up areas will be dealt with after this is completed.

The Deputy has particularly raised the question of developments along national secondary roads. Luann sé ceantair Ghaeltachta go háirithe maidir leis an N56. TII and the local authorities engage on the setting of speed limits on national secondary roads, with TII having the final say. I expect that the Deputy is considering what the relationship would be between new developments and possible speed limits. We can all imagine scenarios where a new development beside a road will lead to significant increase in traffic, and that will impact on the appropriate speed limit. It might well be necessary to reduce a speed limit in cases of a new development, either because it was actually being built or because it was planned. I assure him that in these cases TIl and the local authorities engage closely in ensuring that the proposed speed limit alterations are appropriate. Formal requests for consent for the making of special speed limit by-laws involve a public consultation phase and are processed by TIl on an ongoing basis. Speed limits are designed to be appropriate to current road requirements, including traffic levels, and can be changed if these requirements change. Local authorities can change the speed limits to fit new developments, and speed limits which may currently exist do not act as a barrier to future developments.

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