Controversial Mayo speed limit by-laws adopted

Contentious speed limit by-laws have been adopted by Mayo County Council but not without reservations from councillors.

Local councillors adopted a proposal to pass the by-laws to ensure that the default speed limit of five local roads within the county remain at 80km per hour when new legislation to reduce the speed limit on local roads to 60km per hour is introduced on February 7. Had the recommendation not been approved the default speed limit on these roads would have been reduced to 60km on February 7.

The issue had been the issue of intense debate at previous meetings of Mayo Council. Many councillors were opposed to the move with others of the view that speed limit changes are a necessity.

The council invited officials from the Department of Transport to attend last week’s meeting of the local authority but there was no appearance.

Fianna Fail’s Damien Ryan said what councillors were expected to “rubber stamp” was “absolute ridiculous nonsense.” “We have been asked to make a decision with no statistics, with no facts, with no engineering or technical advice, with no input from one of the 30 public representatives. The people who drew this up with the exception of none should be absolutely ashamed of themselves,” Cllr Ruan commented.

He said if the by-laws are adopted an immediate review into the documentation behind the changes must be carried out.

Fine Gael’s Peter Flynn agreed with the review and also concurred with Cllr Ryan that the powers of councillors are being eroded. However, he believed changes to the speed limits on Mayo roads are required with a large number of local roads not suitable for an 80km limit.

“The level of aggression on the roads is frightening and I do believe the vast majority of our local roads should be at 60.” “ I do think that right now we have to deal with the reality that our local roads are not simply up to 80km per hour,” Cllr Flynn added.

The proposal to adopt the by-laws was accepted by the councillors with the amendment of a review to be carried out into the process. Four of the local roads which met the criteria to remain at 80km per hour are in Erris while the fifth is the L-1127 outside Ballina.