Irish Rural Road Speed Changes

The speed limits for local roads in Ireland were changed from 80 km/h to 60 km/h in 2025. This impacted an estimated 73,000 km of roads. Gov.ie

For many of these roads 80 km/h was certainly a limit, rather than an actual expected driving speed. Especially those that were single lane with poor visibility.

Example 80km rural local road

These roads are now designated with a Rural Speed Limit sign.

Rural Speed Limit sign

Rural local roads were impacted, which is the largest class of roads in Ireland, with an estimated 60% of all roads in Ireland changing their speed limit.

Interactive map of Local Rural Roads in Ireland:

Cork, Mayo and Galway having the most kilometers of impacted local roads, with 0ver 9000 km of roads in Cork alone impacted.

But from a % of roads perspective Roscommon, Longford, Sligo, Mayo, Monaghan and Cavan all see around 70% of their roads impacted.

CountyLocal Roads Non Urban, kmTotal Roads, kmEstimated % Impacted
Carlow9721,62260%
Cavan2,4013,39271%
Clare3,2145,38460%
Cork9,90215,25765%
Donegal5,0438,50659%
Dublin5504,99011%
Galway5,4188,21966%
Kerry3,7095,64866%
Kildare1,5853,98940%
Kilkenny2,4494,04960%
Laois1,6973,04556%
Leitrim1,7192,52268%
Limerick2,8835,15656%
Longford1,3111,73975%
Louth9452,34940%
Mayo5,4497,34574%
Meath2,4534,69252%
Monaghan2,0652,89071%
Offaly1,5772,76757%
Roscommon3,3034,30577%
Sligo2,2973,07975%
Tipperary4,4067,27561%
Waterford2,0313,35261%
Westmeath1,7382,97558%
Wexford2,7474,78057%
Wicklow1,4853,25546%
Total7334912258160%