Paula Butterly (Louth, Fine Gael)
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241. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport for an update on his Department’s consideration for altering transport weight allowances on roads; the changes being proposed to permit applications for heavy-load transport; if the Department is considering a similar system to the United Kingdom in regulating and processing heavy-load transport; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [66037/25]

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal East, Fianna Fail)
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Exceptional Abnormal Loads can cause significant damage and deterioration to pavements, bridges and bridge components along the Irish road network. The presence of these vehicles and loads will increase over time and pose a significant risk to the road transport network, in particular where overloading and potential damage can be caused to bridge structures and other pieces of infrastructure such as water mains, and gas mains.

Due to their age and service life in Ireland, some bridges have experienced deterioration over their lifetime and are particularly vulnerable to extreme load events due to their reduced capacity over time. Medium span bridges and ageing structures are particularly vulnerable, but even modern bridges in Ireland have not been designed to carry such exceptional abnormal loads. Systems are being developed to address movement of these exceptional loads in as safe a manner as possible and considering the protection of the network and international practice.

Each individual Local Authority (LA) has responsibility for the issuing of Abnormal Load Permits in their administrative area in accordance with in S.I. No. 5/2003 - Road Traffic (Construction and Use of Vehicles) Regulations 2003.

An Abnormal Load Working Group has been established to review the current Abnormal Load Permitting process with a view to moving the application process to a single application and payment system for Road Hauliers. Membership of this group includes representatives from the Local Authority Sector, Department of Transport, Transport Infrastructure Ireland, An Garda Síochána, and the Road Management Office.

The single application and payment point is currently being developed through the MyCoCo digital solution platform which is a collaboration between Local Authorities and supported by the Local Government Management Agency (LGMA). This initiative arose from the national “Connecting Government 2030” program, which aims for 90 per cent of public services to be delivered online by 2030, and has been noted as a building block of reform in the “Better Public Services - Public Service Transformation 2030 Strategy”.

This group is currently preparing to run a pilot with a haulier across a number of LA’s to prove the system and if successful make recommendations for implementation to the CCMA through the LGMA ICT Committee, in early 2026. The working group is also looking at technical requirements for the abnormal load application form and LA requirements for application decision timelines, conditioning applications, notifying applicants of issues, and issuing decisions. Areas such as the Escort Requirements (European Guidelines for Escort Vehicles) and legislative enforcement are also being considered in consultation with AGS. The group will also make recommendations for further work.

A separate Local Authority Central Support Unit has been identified as a requirement to centrally manage and support the movement of these exceptional loads. This would include the assessment and delivery of exceptional abnormal loads with adequate dedicated expert technical resources in place to manage the process over the coming years. A central support unit could potentially identify preferred/designated routes, manage a repository of bridge assessments and condition surveys, recommend strengthening works to avoid overbridging, and impose max loads across the network based on structural assessments. In recognition of the fact that the issue of exceptionally abnormal loads is being driven primarily by our need to upgrade our electricity grid, the Department of Climate, Energy and the Environment is currently considering funding requirements for this Central Support Unit.

The majority on the work being carried is looking to introduce efficiencies and clarity to the Abnormal Load Application process. While the role of the proposed Local Authority Central Support Unit would be to provide technical support to Local Authorities for Exceptional Abnormal Load Applications there are currently no proposals to amend existing Abnormal Load weight parameters set out in S.I. No. 5/2003 - Road Traffic (Construction and Use of Vehicles) Regulations 2003.