The AA has hit out Dublin city council’s decision to reject its proposals for speed limit changes in the city.

They included an increase from 50kms to 80kms an hour on three routes, and smaller hikes on four others.

Next year will see the phased rollout of more 30km an hour zones in the city and suburbs, in line with plans from Dublin City Council.

AA spokesman Conor Faughnan (pictured) said in many cases the council’s speed limit changes did not make sense.

He said: “There is no road safety dividend in doing this. It makes for a great road safety soundbite – who could be against low speed limits? It’s like being against world peace.

“We’re not obsessed with speed but we are obsessed with getting speed limits set correctly in sympathy with the road engineering.

“Otherwise, whatever your stated intention, what you actually achieve is making a nonsense of speed limits generally, and that doesn’t do anybody any good.”