Martin Cullen (Waterford, Fianna Fail)
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Section 10(1)(d) of the Roads Act 1993 provides that where a national road has been realigned or a bypass has been constructed on it, such a realignment or bypass shall, unless otherwise provided by order of the Minister for Transport, be a national road and that section of the existing road that remains following the realignment or the construction of the bypass shall be a local road.

The Road Traffic Act 2004 provided for the changeover from imperial speed limits to metric speed limits in conjunction with the introduction of a revised speed limit structure on 20 January 2005. The new speed limit structure provides that a speed limit of 80 km/h applies, on a default basis, to rural regional and local roads.

Under the 2004 Act the elected members of county and city councils retain the power to make by-laws to apply a special speed limit in lieu of a default speed limit at any specified location. The range of special speed limits available to the local authorities is 120, 100, 80, 60, 50 and 30 km/h. I will issue guidelines shortly to assist local authorities on the application of special speed limits. In the case of the application of a special speed limit of 120 km/ or of 30 km/h, its deployment can only be pursued in accordance with such guidelines.