Michael Collins (Cork South-West, Independent Ireland Party)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I congratulate the Minister of State on his appointment. Speed limits have been reduced on many roads in the past week. All these roads were deemed local roads and most people I have spoken to have no issue in the wide, earthly world with that. Where I am living, one of the roads had a limit of 80 km/h but motorists could not do 80 km/h unless they were out of their minds. The best they could do was 60 km/h in the first place, so there is no issue there.

The problem in west Cork relates to the regional roads, R586 and R585, and the national road, N71. Many people got involved in the first rounds of the consultation thinking this was it. The drop in the local roads would be made and other roads would be left as they are. Now it seems there is a second round of speed limit drops and no consultation will be made with the general public or public representatives.

There are three main routes into west Cork: the N71 through Bandon, Clonakilty, Skibbereen and Ballydehob; the R586 through Bandon, Ballyneen, Dunmanway and Drimoleague; and the R585 through Keelkill, Coosane and Cappeen. Will the N71 have a drop in speed limits? It is at 100 km/h. In some parts, it goes down to 80 km/h. That is around towns and other areas where it is accepted. Will the R586 go from 100 km/h to 80 km/h ? In some parts it is 80 km/h or 60 km/h already. Will the 80 km/h limit be reduced to 60 km/h and will the 60 km/h be reduced to 40 km/h? The speed limit on the R585 is 100 km/h. Will it go down to 80 km/h? Some parts are at 60 km/h already. Will they go down to 30 km/h or 40 km/h? This will cause nothing short of chaos and anarchy.

I mentioned this issue in the Dáil yesterday to the Minister, Deputy Chambers, and he showed the mindet of a Dublin city Minister with no clear understanding of how rural Ireland works. We advocate for safety on the road and if there is a blackspot or a dangerous road, the local authority should reduce speed limits. There is no question or argument about that. That should be done in consultation. The way things are going, there will soon be no point in having a TD, councillor or Senator because they will have no say in anything. It is dictation from the top. We need to be careful and to make sure roads are safe but blanket drops will not work.

One of the main and only routes we have is the Bandon-Ballyneen-Dunmanway-Drimoleage to Bantry road. The speed limit is going to go down from 80 km/h, and in some parts from 60km/h. It is astonishing. It will be an absolute disgrace. There is a public meeting on Friday night, which is guaranteed to be packed with angry people asking public representatives what they are doing and if they are asleep in the Dáil, making blanket decisions like this without a proper consultation. It does not matter what constituency is involved. It must be affecting other constituencies too.

I ask for clarity on the N71, R586 and R585. Can we work towards a solution? Some of these areas need drops, but not a blanket drop because that would destroy businesses in these towns and areas. The roads are in shocking condition. That is the problem. Roads are massively wide, wide enough to take passing bays or whatever, but the Government has forgotten all that, put it on motorists' backs and is trying to destroy businesses in rural communities where there is plenty of safe travelling going on as it is. Some of the roads I mentioned have had, thanks be to God, no serious car accident. On the odd one there is; that could happen anywhere. I am only asking if there will be consultations or will it be dictation from the top.

Thomas Byrne (Meath East, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy for the good wishes. I apologise that the Minister, Deputy O'Brien, cannot be here this morning. He is attending the Cabinet meeting.

The Government Road Safety Strategy 2021-2030 seeks to improve road safety in Ireland and make our roads safer for all road users. The strategy is based on vision zero, which is an aspiration to have zero deaths or serious injuries by 2050 and it has been adopted across the European Union. The introduction of more consistent and appropriate speed limits will help to improve road safety in Ireland in pursuit of this objective. In September 2023, the Department of Transport published a speed limit review which made key recommendations, including that the default speed limit on national secondary roads should be reduced from 100 km/h to 80 km hour, on local roads from 80 km/h to 60 km/hand on roads in built-up areas from 50 km/h to 30 km/h. We legislated for these changes in the Road Traffic Act 2024, which was voted on in the Dáil and signed into law in April last year.

The Deputy will recall that national legislation sets default speed limits for different classes of roads but devolves responsibility for setting the individual speed limit on any given road to local authorities within parameters defined in the legislation. Local authorities can leave speed limits at the default or apply different limits through what are called special speed limit by-laws. This is quite right, because local authorities are best placed to assess the characteristics of each road and apply the appropriate limits in light of safety and traffic management considerations. The setting of special speed limits by local authorities must be carried out in accordance with the statutory guidelines for setting and managing speed limits in Ireland. Implementing the changes called for by the legislation and review requires local authorities to assess the roads in each of the three classes affected and to consider whether the default or another limit might be appropriate. It is a big task and, therefore, the implementation of the changes is being undertaken in phases, with local roads being addressed first. The Department has worked closely with the local authorities on this first implementation phase and has issued new guidelines to help them in the process. In light of the complexity of the work, the Department agreed that the new local default limit, originally intended to come into effect last November, would come into effect on 7 February 2025.

I understand the Deputy is also concerned about the question of developments along national secondary roads. Transport Infrastructure Ireland, TIl, 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 and his constituents will consider what the relationship will be between new developments and possible speed limits, particularly on the N71. We can all imagine scenarios where a new development beside a road will lead to a significant increase in traffic and would have an impact on what is the appropriate speed limit. I assure the Deputy that in these cases TII and the local authorities engage closely to ensure the proposed speed limit alterations are appropriate. Formal requests for consent for the making of a special speed limit by-law involve a public consultation phase and are processed by TII on an ongoing basis. Speed limits are designed to be appropriate to current road requirements, including traffic levels, and can be changed when the requirements change. Local authorities can change the speed limits to fit new developments. Speed limits which currently exist do not act as a barrier to future development.

The timeline for the implementation of phases two and three of the speed limit changes on national secondary roads and roads in urban cores will be informed by the roll-out of the local rural road speed limit change and will take cognisance of the reaction, behavioural response and quantified impacts on metrics such as collisions. I encourage the Deputy to stay in touch with his local authority and councillors, as I am sure he does, about queries on specific roads and the implementation of safer default speed limits as the Minister does not have any power to intervene on the decisions local authorities make on this issue.

Michael Collins (Cork South-West, Independent Ireland Party)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State. He said this decision was delayed and we know why. It was because a general election was coming. It is a hugely unpopular decision about our regional and national roads. Our councillors made queries about local roads and were told that it was basically dictated from the top. That is what the Independent Ireland councillors were told when they raised concerns. That is what politicians do. They raise concerns.

I look at the roads. I have the whole thing here. It relates to the R586 and the R585 Bantry, Kealkill to Cousane, Coppeen, Bandon, Enniskean, Dunmanway and Ballineen. The speed limit on the Bandon to Timoleague road is 80 km/h. People do not see any issue with it. There is a whole lot of them where people do not see any issues. The Bantry to Kilbrittain road has been reduced to 80 km/h. Clonakilty to Dunmanway has been reduced to 80 km/h, as well as Clonakilty to Timoleague, Clonakilty to Enniskean, Dunmanway to Macroom, Skibbereen to Baltimore, Skibbereen to Castletownshend, Skibbereen to Timoleague and Skibbereen to Cork. People do not have any issue with the speed limits on those roads being reduced to 80 km/h because the roads are not suitable for anything faster. However, I am talking about the main three routes into west Cork: the R585, R586 and N71. These are the concerns we have. If the speed is being reduced to 80 km/h and 60 km/h on the R585, Charlie the dog will run out beyond the cars. That is what will happen and the cyclists will as well. It is an insane proposal and it has to be negotiated.

If there are dangers on the roads, by all means bring the speed down, but do not put a blanket drop on speed. Someone has got to the Minister, Deputy O'Brien. He is not here. He should be here to discuss this as it is a serious issue. It will be detrimental to businesses and tourism and to drivers on the roads who will be frustrated and angry. We do not need that. We need to bring drivers with us to make sure roads are safe. This is an area where local authorities seem to have no say; they say it has been dictated from the top and they have to go with it and that is it. If the Minister of State said the local authorities do have a say, I accept that, but I will take it back to the local authority and I will come back to the Government again if it is not the case.

Thomas Byrne (Meath East, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I reiterate that the Minister, Deputy O'Brien is at the Cabinet meeting so he cannot be here. He would like to be here.

In my previous remarks, I outlined the roles of TII and the local authorities, which are significant in all this. It is important that people work with TII and the local authorities on this. The Department is already doing so. It is important that we provide speed limits that will improve safety for all road users and that is what is happening. The Government is confident that the new limits will help to reduce the number of deaths on our roads, which grew alarmingly after the pandemic. That is a fact. While there was a slight decrease in the number of lives lost on our roads in 2024 in comparison with 2023, it is vital we continue to build on that and do our part to ensure fewer lives are lost this year. If we are to reach our goal of vision zero by 2050, which is also a European objective, all road users must come together and drive safely. It is our duty as citizens to take responsibility for our actions and reduce the chance of death or serious injury. Every death has a devastating effect on families and communities and we must minimise the chance of them occurring.

The Department of Transport, along with Cork County Council in the case of the Deputy's constituency, will review the roll-out of phase 1 of the safer default speed limits, prior to implementing phases 2 and 3. This iterative approach will allow us to learn from each implementation phase, helping to deliver a smooth and measured approach to the other phases. This was all legislated for in Dáil Éireann. The whole system was passed by the Dáil in the Road Traffic Act 2024.

The Minister for Transport has asked us to thank his officials, the local authorities, the Road Safety Authority, members of An Garda Síochána and other key stakeholders who all worked hard to deliver the recent changes on local roads and thereby increase safety for road users. The Government is committed to ensuring that we deliver a multifaceted approach to reducing road fatalities and serious injuries on the path to vision zero.