Department confirms timeline on speed limit reduction on thousands of kilometres of Laois roads

The Department of Transport has confirmed the 20 kph reduction in local road speed limits for Laois and nationwide from February 7, 2025.

The speed limit reduction from 80kph to 60kph on hundreds of kilometres on local roads in Laois will be followed by a reduction in speed limits on national secondary roads in the county from 100kph to 80kph and in built up areas from 50kph to 30kph. Those changes are expected to begin from June 2025. 

In Laois, it is estimated that the speed limit will be lowered on over 2,300 kilometres of roads in the coming months. A national public information campaign is being planned prior to the local road phase of the speed limit reduction in February when 80kph zones are reduced to 60kph. 

Senior Executive Engineer at Laois County Council, Philip McVeigh told the December meeting of Portarlington Graiguecullen Minicipal District that signage would be erected prior to the speed limit changes. 

He also agred with Indpendent Cllr Aisling Moran's contention that the move could see cycle lanes and speed ramps installed in areas previously ineligible due to 80kph speed limits. 

A spokesperson for the Department of Transport said the move is part of Ireland’s Government Road Safety Strategy 2021–2030, which has the primary aim of reducing the number of deaths and serious injuries on Irish roads by 50% by 2030. 

The first phase of the strategy set out the need for a working group of relevant stakeholders to review speed limits.  

The working group comprised the Department of Transport, Road Safety Authority (RSA), An Garda Síochána, Transport Infrastructure Ireland (TII), the National Transport Authority (NTA), and the Local Government Management Agency (LGMA), and published its Speed Limit Review in September 2023.

“The Review highlighted that protecting vulnerable road users must be a key focus when setting speed limits. For example, the risk of being killed is much greater for collisions between a car and a vulnerable road user at 50 km/h, when compared with the same type of collision at 30 km/h. It recommended changes to default speed limits on three classes of roads: 

rural local roads to reduce from 80km/h to 60km/h

national secondary roads to reduce from 100km/h to 80km/h

roads in built-up areas to reduce from 50km/h to 30km/h,” the Department spokesperson said.  

“These changes are being brought into effect by the Road Traffic Act 2024. The change in default speed limits for rural local roads will be implemented first, starting on 7 February 2025. A commencement order on this has been signed. It is envisaged that other changes will be implemented from June 2025,” the Department spokesperson said. 

According to the Department, “the structure of speed limit law in Ireland is that national legislation sets default speed limits for different classes of roads. Local Authorities may then make changes to the default by setting ‘special speed limits’ for given roads in their areas. Recent legislation has not changed this structure, or affected the capacity of Local Authorities to vary special speed limits. The Department of Transport issued new guidelines to Local Authorities in early 2024 to assist them with this process.”

The Department spokesperson said “enforcement of speed limits will, as always, be a matter for An Garda Síochána.”