Love 30 was delighted to get the opportunity to speak to the Oireachtas Committee on Transport and Communications on 1 March 2022 on the topic of speed limits in urban areas and the RSA Road Safety Strategy. Joan Swift and Muireann O'Dea attended the committee meeting on behalf of Love 30. They spoke of the need for a legislative change to make 30km/h the default speed limit in built up areas and outlined the many benefits including:

• A reduction of up to 40% in the number of fatal and serious collisions
• Making our cities and towns more liveable by allowing people of all ages and abilities to walk or cycle
• Contributing to our climate action plan

A recording of the meeting is available on Oireachtas TV.. The Love 30 opening statement starts at 36 minutes.

The RSA also addressed the committee and spoke strongly in favour of a default speed limit of 30 km/h in urban areas as an important way to support the goal of reducing road causalities by 50% by 2030. The RSA has followed up High Impact Action (Number 6) from the Road Safety Strategy 2021-2030 to "Establish a working group to examine and review the framework for the setting of speed limits, including introducing 30km/h limits as the default in urban areas." The working group has been set up and is drawing up terms of reference. It will report back with recommendations and an implementation plan to a new Road Safety Partnership Board by the end of the year.

Dr Lorraine D'Arcy, senior lecturer at TU and co-chair of the MSc in Sustainable Transport and Mobility, also addressed the meeting and spoke of the need for consultation with all types of road users in order to design walkable neighbourhoods.

The attendees at the Committee meeting were supportive of a default 30 km/h speed limit in built-up areas, with exceptions for some roads, and would like to see it implemented as quickly as possible.

At the end of the meeting the chair, Kieran O'Donnell TD summed up that

• The Committee will write to the Department asking for a progress report on the Working Group on Speed Limits set up under the Road Safety Strategy, asking for its Terms of Reference and seeking to have Love 30 included in the Working Group.

The following TDs and Senators attended the committee:

• Kieran O'Donnell TD- Chair. Fine Gael
• Steven Matthews TD Green Party
• Darren O'Rourke TD Sinn Féin. Briefly
• Ruairí Ó Murchú TD, Sinn Féin
• Neasa Hourigan TD, Green Party
• Senator Pauline O'Reilly, Green Party
• Senator Marie Sherlock, Labour
• Gerard P. Craughwell Independent
• Gerry Horkan, Fianna Fáil

The Transport and Communications Committee are planning a future meeting to which representatives from An Garda Siochana, the road haulage industry and taxi drivers will be invited. This meeting will discuss the topic of enforcement of speed limits.