Under the Roads Act 1993, public roads are classified as National, Regional or Local. The Minister for Environment and Local Government is empowered to declare roads to be national or regional roads.
The remaining roads are local roads.
National Roads have been sub-divided into National Primary and National Secondary Routes. Regional roads are also referred to as Regional Main Roads. Local roads incorporate both county and urban roads. These are sub-divided into primary, secondary and tertiary.
Primary Local Roads: Roads carrying significant traffic arising from Tourism, Industry, Agriculture or Forestry.
Secondary Local Roads: Roads of local or seasonal importance to rural developments.
Tertiary Local Roads: Remote mountain and bog roads and cul-de-sacs.
