Parents dropping children at Killeevan National School in Newbliss could soon face a formal 30 km/h limit outside the gates at the busiest times of the day, if draft special speed-limit bye-laws published by Monaghan County Council are adopted.
The council has given notice that it proposes a periodic 30 km/h school-zone speed limit on the L6290-0 at Killeevan National School, Newbliss. The limit would operate only during designated school arrival and departure windows: 08:00 to 09:30 and 14:00 to 16:00, Monday to Friday. The stated aim is to improve safety for pupils, pedestrians, cyclists and other vulnerable road users using the school and nearby community facilities under the Safe Routes to School programme.
How to have your say
Draft bye-law maps are available for inspection during normal office hours from Thursday, 8 October 2026 until Monday, 9 November 2026 at the Roads Section in the Mtek II Building, Knockaconny, Monaghan, and at the Ballybay–Clones Municipal District offices on Monaghan Street in Clones. The drafts are also published on the council website and on roadguidelines.ie.
Written observations can be sent to the Administrative Officer, Monaghan County Council Roads Section, Mtek II Building, Knockaconny, Monaghan, or emailed to [email protected], by 16:00 on Monday, 16 November 2026. Senior engineer Paul Connolly signed the public notice on 8 October.
Part of a wider school-gate package
The timed limit sits alongside works already flagged for the same school under Safe Routes to School. An earlier Section 38 notice for traffic-calming at Killeevan NS set out high-friction surfacing and school-route markings and signage on the R183 Clones Road and the L6290, reconfigured parking along the L6290, extra calming signage and bollards, and associated site works. That consultation closed in April 2026; the new bye-law process is what would put a legal speed limit on the school zone itself.
Killeevan NS was included in round three of the national Safe Routes to School programme, run by the National Transport Authority with Green-Schools and An Taisce. A council road-safety feature on the school’s “Be Safe and Be Seen” message said the scheme focuses on highlighting the school and encouraging lower speeds and more careful driving, largely through signage and road markings near the gate.
What the school and council have said
Principal Margaret McCabe welcomed the funding and stressed that safety at start and finish times is paramount, urging lower speeds, careful parking, the safe cross code and high visibility. Chief executive Robert Burns said the council wants safe, connected active-travel routes so more pupils can walk, cycle or scoot to school, and that the challenge is to make that the norm across the county.
Separately, the council is also consulting on wider urban 30 km/h special speed-limit bye-laws for the 2026 speed-limit review, with draft maps on display at municipal district offices and online. That process is distinct from the Killeevan school-zone proposal, but it shows how Monaghan is reviewing lower limits in built-up areas at the same time.
Anyone who uses the L6290 at school times — parents, neighbours, or regular through-traffic — has until mid-November to lodge a view. Our earlier coverage of the county road safety plan and Castleblayney speeding surveys sits in the same local safety debate.