Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 8 February 2023
86. Deputy Éamon Ó Cuív asked the Minister for Transport the various classifications of county roads in each county; the standard existing speed limit on all these roads outside of urban areas at present; if he intends on introducing lower standard speed limits on local roads of various classifications; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [5871/23]
Amharc ar fhreagraAs part of Action 6 of the Government’s Road Safety Strategy a review is underway to examine and review the framework for setting of speed limits including rural speed limits and the introduction of a 30km/h default speed limit in urban areas. This review is nearing completion and as part of its work a detailed assessment is being carried out on the existing framework of speed limits including for local roads in rural areas.
In Ireland roads are classified as National, Regional and Local roads in accordance with Section 10 of the Roads Act, 1993. In turn the Road Traffic Act, 2004 sets out default speed limits for the road network as being 120km/h for Motorways, 100km/h for National roads, 80km/h for Regional roads and 80km/h for Local roads.
For public roads in each county, Section 10 of the Roads Act 1993 sets out that a local authority shall maintain and make available for public inspection a schedule and a map of public roads in their administrative area. Local authorities are responsible for classifying and scheduling Local roads with the Minister of Transport being responsible for classifying and scheduling National and Regional Roads.
Special Speed Limits are speed limits that are specified in bye-laws adopted by the vote of the Elected Members of Local Authorities. Section 9 of the Road Traffic Act 2004, as amended, sets out the range of Special Speed Limits that may be applied through bye-laws. The current special speed limits are 120km/h, 100km/h, 80 km/h, 60km/h, 50km/h, 40km/h, 30km/h and 20km/h. Local authorities have the discretion to decide on varying these limits through Special Speed Limit bye-laws for roads within their administrative area. The making of such bye-laws is a reserved function of the elected members of the council.
