Michael Collins warns rural chaos over planned speed limit cuts

Thank you very much indeed. Speed limits have been reduced on many roads last week, Minister. First of all, sorry, I should congratulate you on your appointment as Minister, and this is my first time getting that opportunity, but they have been reduced on many roads in the past week. All these roads were deemed local roads, and to be honest, to most people that I have spoken to have not got an issue in the wider world with that, because some of the roads, and I know myself and where I am living, one of the roads was at 80 kilometres. You could not do 80 kilometres except if you are out of your mind. The best you could do is 60 in the first place, so there is an issue there. The problem we have in West Cork is that there is a regional, the R586 and the regional R585, and the national, the N71, is another serious concern we have, because now we find out, and a lot of people, I think, got involved in the consultation initially on the first rounds of it, thinking that this was it. The local roads, the drop would be made, and other roads would be left as they are, but now it seems that there is a second round of speed limit drops, that there is no consultation going to be made with the general public or public representatives. Now, just think for one second, there are only three main routes into West Cork. The N71, which is Bandon, Clannacilty, Skivreen, to Battle of the Hub. The R586, which is Bandon, Bellineen and Manway Drimalig. And the R585, which is Clannacilty, Coussaint, Copeen. That is the main route into West Cork. It looks like, no, I am asking the question, is the N71 going to have a drop in speed limits, which is at 100 kilometres, obviously in some parts it goes down to 80, but that is in around towns and areas, that is accepted. Is that going to drop? Also, is the regional R586, the Bandon, Bellineen and Manway Drimalig road, is that going to go from 100 to 80? In some parts that is 60 already, and 80 already. So, is the 80 that is there already going to go down to 60, and if it is going down to 60, is it going down to 40? And the same with the R585, the Copeen, Coussaint, Cailkill road, that is at 100 km. Is that going to go down to 80 kilometres? And in some parts that is 60 already, is it going down to 30 or 40? This is going to cause nothing short of chaos, Minister. Absolute anarchy and chaos. I mentioned this in the Dáil yesterday with Minister Chambers, and he came back with a mindset of a Dublin City TD, or a Dublin City Minister, that has no clear understanding how rural Ireland works. We advocate safety on the road, yes, and if there is a black spot, yes, the local authorities should reduce certain roads if they are dangerous. No question asked about that, and there is no argument about that. That should actually be done in consultation. The way things are going soon. There is no point in having a TD, or a councillor in this country, or a senator, because they will have no say in anything. It is dictation from the top. Yes, we need to be careful, yes, we do need to make sure that roads are safe, but blanket drops are not going to work. And if you have a situation where the main route, one of the biggest routes, the only routes we have is such, is the Band and Balanine, the Band and Balanine, the Bantry Road, is going to go down from 80, and some parts of the 60, which is an astonishing, it will be just an absolute disgrace. There is a public meeting on Friday night, it is going to be packed, guaranteed, of angry people that are asking public representatives, what are you doing? Are you sleeping at all, making decisions, blanket decisions like this, without a proper consolation? It doesn't matter what constituency, it must be affecting other constituencies too. But I am asking for clarity on the N71, clarity on the R586 and clarity on the R585, and can we work towards a solution? Because yes, some of these areas do need drops, but not a blanket drop from an area, because you will destroy businesses in these towns and areas. The roads are in shocking condition, this is your problem. Roads are massively wide, and wide enough to take extra, extra passing bays or whatever, but you've forgotten all that, you've put it back down onto the motorist back, and trying to destroy businesses in rural communities where there's plenty and safe travelling going as it is at this moment. Some of these roads that I mentioned, thanks be to God, there have been no serious car accidents on these roads, and not one of them there is. That will happen anywhere. But I am only saying, is there going to be consultation or is there going to be dictation from the top? Thank you. Thanks Deputy Minister. Goera Maggat, thank you for the good wishes Deputy Collins as well. The Government's Road Safety Strategy 21-2030 seeks to improve road safety in Ireland and to make our roads safer for all users, and I should apologise, Minister O'Brien is at the Cabinet meeting, so we can't be here this morning. The strategy is based on Vision Zero, which is an aspiration to have no deaths, zero deaths or serious injuries by 2015. This has been adopted across the European Union. The introduction of more consistent and appropriate speed limits will help to improve road safety in Ireland in pursuit of the objective. In September 23, the Department of Transport published a speed limit review. The review made key recommendations that the default speed on national secondary roads should go down from 100 to 80 kilometres per hour, local roads should go down from 80 to 60 kilometres per hour, and that roads in built-up areas should go down from 50 to 30 kilometres per hour. We legislated for them in the Dáil under the Road Traffic Act 2024. That was voted on in the Dáil and that was signed into law in April of last year. The Deputy will recall that national legislation sets default speed limits for different classes of roads, but it does devolve responsibility for setting the individual speed limit and any given road to local authorities within parameters defined by the legislation. Local authorities can leave speed limits at the default, or they can apply different limits through what are called special speed limit bylaws. This is quite right, because it is the local authorities who are best placed to assess the characteristics of each road and apply the appropriate limits in light of the safety and traffic management considerations. The setting of special speed limits by local authorities must be carried out in accordance with the statutory guidelines for setting and managing speed limits in Ireland. Implementing the changes called for by the legislation and the review requires local authorities to assess the roads in each of the three classes affected, and consider whether the default or another limit might be appropriate. It is a big task, and therefore the implementation of the changes has been undertaken in phases, with local roads being addressed first. The Department has worked closely with the local authorities on this first implementation phase and has issued new guidelines to help them in the process. In light of the complexity of the work involved, the Department agreed that the new local default limit, originally intended to come into effect last November, would come into effect on 7 February 2025. Deputy Collins is also concerned, I understand, with the question of developments along national secondary roads. TII and the local authorities engage in the setting of speed limits on national secondary roads, with TII having the final say. I expect the Deputy and his constituents will be considering what the relationship will be between new developments and possible speed limits, particularly on the N71. We can all imagine scenarios where new development beside a road will lead to a significant increase in traffic, and that has an impact on the appropriate speed limit. I can assure Deputy Collins that in these cases TII and the local authorities do engage closely to ensure that the proposed speed limit alterations are appropriate. Formal requests for the consent for the making of a special speed limit by-law involves a public consultation phase, and they are processed by TII on an ongoing basis. Speed limits are designed to be appropriate to current road requirements, including traffic levels, and can be changed when the requirements change. Local authorities can change speed limits to fit new developments, and speed limits which may currently exist, and speed limits which may currently exist so that they do not act as a barrier to future development. The timeline for the implementation of phases two and three of the speed limit changes in relation to national secondary roads and roads and urban cores will be informed by the rollout of the local rural speed limit change, and will take cognisance of the reaction, behavioural response, and quantified impacts on metrics such as collisions. I would encourage Deputy Collins to be in touch with, as I am sure he is in touch with his local authority and with local councillors on specific roads and the implementation of default speed limits, as the Minister has no power to intervene on the decisions that local authorities may make in relation to them. Thank you very much, Minister. You said that this decision was delayed. We know why it was delayed. There was a general election coming. It was a hugely unpopular decision that has been made out here, in relation to our regional and national roads, and our councils did make queries in relation to the local roads, and any queries that were told couldn't be just basically dictated from the top. That is what our independent Ireland councillors in the council, when they raise concerns, and that is what you you do as a politician, you raise concerns. You try and create dialogue. You have a situation, as I said, I look at the roads here, and I have got the whole thing here. You have the R586 and the R585 Benetree-Kilberton down to 80 kilometres, you have roads like the Benetree-Kilberton down to 80 kilometres, Clannachiltie-Timaleigh, Clannachiltie-Timaleigh, Clannachiltie-Inneskeen, Clannachiltie-Inneskeen, Scibbereen-Beltaware, Scibbereen-Castledowns-Inneskeen, Scibbereen-Durne-Ligue, but the problem, and Scibbereen-Coura, but I don't think people have issues with them roads going down to 80 kilometres, because the roads are the suitor for that. But the main three routes into West Cork I am talking about, the R585 and the R586 and the N71. These are the concerns we have. If you are going to bring the speed down to 80 and 60 kilometres on the R585, Charlie the dog will run up beyond the cars. That is what will happen, and the bike, the cyclist will run up beyond the cars. It is an insane proposal, and it has to be negotiated, and if there are dangers in the roads, yes, by all means bring the speed down, but my God, don't put a blanket drop in Speed Minister and somebody's got the Minister, O'Brien you said isn't here, he should be here to discuss this, because this is a very serious issue. It will be detrimental to businesses, detrimental to tourism, detrimental to drivers on the road with frustration and anger, that we don't need. We need to bring drivers with us to make sure that the road is right. So all I am asking is that this is an area, the local authorities seem to have no say on it. They are saying it is dictated from the top, they have to go with it, and that's it. If you are saying to me now that the local authorities do have no say, I will accept that, but I will take it back to the local authorities, and I will be back to you again if that is the case. Thank you. Minister, to conclude. Just again to reiterate, the Minister is at the Cabinet meeting, so he can't be here, and I think he would want to be here. I outlined in the previous remarks as well the role of TII and the roles of the local authorities as well, and they are very significant in all of this. So it is important that people work together with TII and with the local authority in relation to this, and the Department is doing that already. Look, it is important that we provide speed limits which will improve safety for all road users, and that is what is happening here. The Government is confident that the new limits will help to reduce the number of deaths on our roads, which did grow alarmingly after the pandemic. That is a fact. While there was a slight decrease in the numbers of lives lost on our roads in 2024 compared to 2023, it is vital that we continue to build on this work and do our part to ensure that fewer lives are lost this year. If we reach our goal of Vision Zero by 2050, which again is a European objective, all road users must come together and drive safely. It is our duty as citizens to take responsibility for our actions and reduce the chances of deaths or serious injury. Every death has a devastating effect on families and communities, and we must minimise the chances of this occurring. The Department of Transport, along with Cork County Council, in your case, will review the rollout of Phase 1 of the Safer Default Speed Limits prior to implementing Phases 2 and 3. This iterative approach will allow us to learn from each implementation phase, helping deliver a smooth and measured approach to the other two phases. This was all legislated for in Dáil Éireann. This was passed by the Dáil, this whole system, in the Road Traffic Act 24. The Minister for Transport has asked us to thank his officials, the local authorities, the Road Safety Authority, members of Vangarda Síochána and other key stakeholders who have all worked hard to deliver the recent changes on local roads and therefore increase safety for road users. The Government is committed to ensuring that we deliver a multifaceted approach to reducing road fatalities and serious injuries on the path to Vision Zero. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.