National Speed Limit Review Phase 2 - Built-up and Urban Area Speed Limits – Cork City

National Speed Limit Review

Phase 2 - Built-up and Urban Area Speed Limits – Cork City

Following the implementation of Phase 1 of the national speed limit changes, the reduction in the default speed limit on rural local roads from 80 km/h to 60 km/h in February 2025, Cork City Council is now commencing Phase 2 of the proposed speed limit changes, the implementation of built-up and urban area speed limits.

30 km/h speed limits have been implemented on many urban roads in Cork City over the past number of years particularly in housing estates supported by funding from the Department of Transport. This phase of speed limit changes will build on this positive work and proposes to introduce further 30km/h speed limits as follows;

• All housing estate roads
• Residential streets
• Roads adjacent to schools
• Roads in the urban area where there is significant and regular interaction with vulnerable road users

Higher speed limits may apply within the urban area as follows:

• 50 km/h for National, Regional, arterial roads and key public transport routes
• 60 km/h on Transition zones on National, Regional, arterial roads and key public transport routes
• Urban arterial roads with a high design speed such as motorway, certain dual carriageways and roads with limited access

A lower speed limit of 20 km/h may apply on pedestrian zones, shared spaces and narrow laneways.

Key Messaging

• Lower speeds in built-up and urban settings improves road safety, particularly for vulnerable road users such as pedestrians and cyclists, promotes sustainable and active travel mobility, reduces noise, and presents opportunities to make improvements to the public realm.
• The risk of a vulnerable road user being killed or seriously injured is much greater for collisions between a car and a vulnerable road user at 50 km/h when compared to the same type of collision at 30 km/h.
• To be effective speed limits need to be credible, self-regulating, and should be regarded as appropriate by road users. Otherwise, they will tend to not be adhered to, which in turn will lead to enforcement issues for An Garda Síochána.
• It is therefore in the interest of safety for all road users that speed limits are set in accordance with the criteria and procedures set out in the updated Guidelines for Setting and Managing Speed Limits in Ireland 2015 (as amended) to ensure consistency and credibility.
• A 30km/h speed limit equates to 18.6 miles per hour.

Cork City Council now seeks to collect the views of the public and stakeholders regarding speed limits on public roads in built-up and urban areas of Cork City.

Submissions may be made either;

• electronically via the Cork City Council Online Consultation Portal at https://consult.corkcity.ie/
• or in writing to the Senior Executive Engineer, Traffic Regulation & Safety Section, Room 339, City Hall, Cork, T12 T997

This public consultation will remain open until 5pm on Friday 13th February, 2026

This is a non-statutory consultation and submissions to this consultation will be considered in the drafting of Special Speed Limit Bye-laws over the coming months to formally change the speed limits in Cork City.

Once drafted, a further statutory public consultation will be carried out publishing the Draft Special Speed Limit Bye-laws for consideration.

All comments, including names and addresses of those making submissions and observations, submitted to Cork City Council regarding this review, may form part of a report presented at the monthly meeting of Cork City Council. Accordingly, they will be included in the minutes of that meeting and may appear in the public domain. Cork City Council will retain data for no longer than is necessary and in accordance with the Council's Data Protection Policy and Privacy Statement (available to view on www.corkcity.ie) and relevant Data Protection legislation.

Valerie O’Sullivan

Chief Executive

Cork City Council

 Dated: Friday 16th January 2026