3.9 Movement of Goods and Services

3.9 Movement of Goods and Services

On National Roads a balance must be found between the movement of people and the movement of goods.

Ireland’s economy is heavily dependent on the efficient movement of goods, both domestically as well as into and out of the country and is therefore dependent on efficient domestic and international transport networks. Freight dependent industries need high-quality transport connections to ensure certainty of arrival of incoming goods and outward shipping of products. Producers and retailers need efficient distribution systems for timely access to their markets and customers.

Currently, the vast majority of internal trade freight in Ireland is carried on the road network14, in a variety of vehicles, from Heavy Goods Vehicles (HGVs) to smaller vans TII estimates that in the region of 80-90 percent of all freight transport occurs on National Roads15. The movement of goods takes place throughout the entire country, and intensifies on National Primary roads, notably on the east coast, M50, and around Cork and Limerick, as illustrated in Figure 3.5. Along the M50, for example, goods vehicles (HGV/LGV) represent 25 percent of all vehicles and take up 33 percent of the available road space.

Figure 3.5 National weekday HGV movements, 2019

14 Central Statistics Office, Road Freight Transport Survey Quarter 4 and Year 2020. 15 Vehicle kilometers estimate based on CSO national freight travel estimates and TII’s network of roadside traffic counters.