Anne Rabbitte (Galway East, Fianna Fail)
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120. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport his views on proposals (details supplied); if his Department is considering a review of same; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [28936/21]

Hildegarde Naughton (Galway West, Fine Gael)
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I am committed to tackling speeding in general, and in particular to reducing speed in residential areas where both public safety and quality of life rely on low speed limits.

Under the legislation, default limits are set for classes of roads, but local authorities have the power to set different limits for roads in their areas depending on the circumstances of the particular roads. Local authorities therefore already have the power to set 30km/h limits, and I understand that 30 km/h limits had been applied in over 7,300 housing estates in the period 2015 to 2020.

I should stress that Road Traffic law by definition applies to public roads, and cannot be applied to roads not taken in charge.

The Deputy may be aware in this context of the 2020 Stockholm Declaration of the Third Global Ministerial Conference on Road Safety, in which Ireland participated and which committed to a 30km/h limit 'in areas where vulnerable road users and vehicles mix in a frequent and planned manner.'

Minister Ryan recently met to discuss this with members of the Love 30 campaign group. As the Deputy may be aware, the Love 30 campaign across Europe is focused on cities and other urban areas implementing such limits and not on national legislation. The Minister emphasized the Government's sympathy with this campaign, while at the same time acknowledging that there needs to be a considerable amount of consultation as part of this process.

In particular, Minister Ryan pointed out that the Programme for Government commits to a review of speed limits, and committed to a review of international best practice to be conducted by the Department with a view to possibly reducing the default 50km/h limit to a 30km/h default.