Council to consider 30kph speed limit at Laois tourist attraction

Laois County Council agreed to consider lowering the speed limit to 30kph near a popular Laois tourist attraction. 

Fine Gael Cllr PJ Kelly raised the issue at the May meeting of Portarlington Graiguecullen Municipal District.  

He asked “that Laois County Council consider reducing the speed limit down to 30 kph through Emo Court for the health and safety of the 350,000 tourists using these roads. Emo Court is becoming more popular, and a lot of people walk these roads as well.”

In a written response read by Senior Executive Engineer, Philip McVeigh, Paul McLoughlin, S.E Roads, stated that: “Consideration will be given to the proposed reduction as part of the next speed limit review process.”

Cllr Kelly said the issue had been brought to his attention due to the large numbers of people visiting the area.

“An awful lot of people are walking those roads and the new entrance is a narrow stretch of road. That road takes you all the way up to the Portarlington crossroads, going up towards Kilbride and back to Ballybrittas,” he said.   

“It is a narrow road and an awful lot of people are on foot and take bicycles out to it as well, more than they ever did before,” he explained. 

“Most of the people are tourists there, they are not  from the area, so when two cars meet they don’t necessarily be slowing down to the 50km zone, which is there at the moment. People have to step into the forestry to avoid getting a bang of a car,” he explained.  

Sinn Fein Cllr Aidan Mullins was in agreement with Cllr Kelly in relation to the motion and he felt the local authority should have more power in adjusting speed limits. 

“The issue I have there is the speed limit reviews is carried out every five years and there is no flexibility for the local authority within that period, on a case by case basis, to look at a particular speed limit in an area that’s of concern,” he said. 

Laois Offaly school bids farewell to three dedicated teachers

“This is something to be checked. Has the local authority any power to go in on a case by case basis and change the speed limit,” he asked.  

Mr McVeigh said Department guidelines dictated the setting of speed limits and Cllr Mullins expressed a belief that if they were just guidelines the council must have some power in certain circumstances.