There’s rarely a meeting in Laois County Council goes by without frustration being expressed over various speed limits around the county.
And so it was again this week with councillors in the Graiguecullen-Portarlington Municipal District again hitting out at Transport Infrastructure Ireland (TII) over speed limits on some of the roads in the county.
There has been ongoing concerns that the speed limit is too high on certain road, particularly coming into villages and built up areas.
Cllr Aisling Moran had called for signs near the Ashfield Junction on the N80 in Arles to be replaced and for a meeting with the TII which she has been suggesting since she was first elected as a councillor two years ago.
“Speed zones in the county should be the responsibility of the County Council and not TII,” said Cllr Moran.
“It’s the people on the ground that know the area and the road should be setting the speed limits – and not someone sitting in an office looking at a map.”
Cllr Padraig Fleming agreed with Cllr Moran’s concerns but said “the TII want cars to speed up – their principal is to keep the traffic moving”. “They want people zooming into villages and slowing down then.”
Philip McVeigh from Laois County Council says that the TII do meet council officials though Cllr Paschal McEvoy told Cllr Moran that the “TII don’t meet councillors”.
Cllr Moran branded that “an absolute disgrace. We shouldn’t be accepting it.
“We’re playing with people’s lives here. All other bodies – Irish Water etc – meet us. The TII should too.”
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