Anger over speed limit changes

Reductions set to be made to certain national secondary roads are going to cause “nothing short of chaos” in parts of county Cork, a local TD has said.

Speaking in Dáil Éireann yesterday, Independent Ireland party leader and Cork South-West TD Michael Collins said a blanket speed reduction set by central government that has “no clear understanding of how rural Ireland works” will have massive negative effects on road users.

He said there are huge concerns over the impact the changes will have on commuters from West Cork to Cork city, as well as causing frustration amongst drivers which could lead to accidents.

Deputy Collins said he had no problem with the speed reduction on local rural roads which came into effect last Friday after previous public consultation, but claimed there was no consultation process for proposals to reduce speed limits on national secondary roads from 100km/h to 80km/h later this year.

“If there’s a black spot, yes, the local authority should reduce certain roads if they’re dangerous. There’s no argument about that. That should be done in consultation,” said Mr Collins.

“Blanket drops are not going to work.

“The way things are going, there’s no point in having a TD or a councillor in this country, or a senator, because they’ll have no say in anything. It’s dictation from the top,” he added.

In response, Minister of State at the Department of the Taoiseach, Thomas Byrne TD, who was standing in for Minister for Transport, Darragh O’Brien, said the changes to speed limits are being adopted in order to reach the Government Road Safety Strategy’s goal to achieve no deaths or serious injuries on Irish roads by 2050.

“This has been adopted across the European Union,” said Mr Byrne.

“The adoption of more consistent and appropriate speed limits will help to improve road safety in Ireland.

“The national legislation sets default speed limits for different classes of road but it does devolve responsibility for setting individual speed limits on any given road to local authorities,” added the minister.

Cork County Council

On Monday, a motion put forward by West Cork Independent councillor Finbarr Harrington at a full meeting of Cork County Council called on incumbent Minister for Transport, Darragh O’Brien TD, to reconsider proposed changes that would bring speed limits on national secondary roads from 100km/h to 80km/h.

“Obviously, it will slow people down and make their journeys longer and frustrate people,” said Cllr Harrington.

“It will also divert a lot of traffic – it will make our regional roads much busier and then effectively they will have to be reduced as well,” he added.

In support of Cllr Harrington’s motion, Independent councillor Peter O’Donoghue said it makes “perfect sense” to reduce speeds on narrow country roads but that reducing speeds on wider national secondary makes “no sense whatsoever”.

“This is about safety – apparently. Well, in my opinion, this is going to make these roads less safe,” said Cllr O’Donoghue.

“It’s going to create more frustration, more overtaking.

“We talk about the cost of living in this country; this is going to add to the cost of living.

“There’s a lot of negative impacts that this proposal is going to have.

“I would ask that the minster and the new Government change plans and do not implement this,” added the Fermoy councillor.