2026-07-01

4. Deputy Duncan Smith asked the Minister for Justice, Home Affairs and Migration to confirm if there is currently any policy review under way in his Department regarding the enforcement of speeding laws through the use of static cameras on the national road network; if divergences between the number of fixed charge notices issued for speed detections at individual locations are compared and reviewed by his officials or An Garda Síochána; the engagement his officials have had with the Department of Transport on this issue; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [50222/26]

The question relates to the issue of static speed cameras on the national road network and whether divergences between the number of fixed charge notices for speed detections at individual locations are compared and reviewed by officials and An Garda Síochána. The Minister will perhaps be aware of the massive disparity in the number of fines issued at various different cameras. One has issued 30,599 notices while another has issued 397 in an 11-month period. The Minister might make a statement on the matter.

I thank the Deputy for his question. There are fixed cameras, average speed cameras and GoSafe vans. That type of technology is vital in ensuring that we keep our roads safe. Road safety cameras are intended to be a tool to support safety, prevention and behaviour change across the road network. They are not about catching people out. They are about trying to ensure that we keep our roads safe. Nine static speed safety cameras have been in operation across the country since 2024. The locations of these cameras were selected based on fatal and serious injury collision data from the preceding seven years and speed data, as well as feedback from stakeholders. We have seen an increase in the total number of fixed charge notices issued for speeding in recent years. In 2024, 137,806 fixed charge notices were issued and in 2025, that went up to 168,882. In terms of analysing any divergences in fixed charge notices generated by particular cameras, I understand that the Garda analysis service supports all functions of the Garda national roads policing bureau. This includes providing the evidence base for roads policing operations, reviewing and analysing operations and providing ongoing support to external stakeholders in the area of road safety. Further action is being taken in respect of making better or more effective use of static speed cameras. The Minister of State, Deputy Canney, who is centrally involved in this, published Ireland's first national safety camera strategy in April this year. Officials in my Department were represented on the working group that developed the strategy. The strategy sets out a partnership approach to camera deployment and enforcement between An Garda Síochána, Transport Infrastructure Ireland and the National Transport Authority. This strategy seeks to define the optimal structures and partnerships across State agencies for delivering camera-based enforcement systems on Irish roads going forward, thereby reducing unsafe driver behaviour.

I thank the Minister. I wholeheartedly agree that these cameras are essential, vital and necessary and play an important role in road safety but we need fairness. We need these cameras to be operated fairly. The Minister cannot tell me there is not a problem when one camera in Glenmore, County Kilkenny is reading speeds for 30,599 fines, another camera read 3,000, some cameras read approximately 1,000 and one in Galway read 397. A person does not need to be a detective to understand that 30,599 fines from one camera indicates there is a problem. Can we have an independent review of this to investigate and interrogate why this is the case? People have said all along that they do not have a problem with the cameras but the signage is the problem. They are being captured and entrapped by these cameras. There is a major problem and it needs to be investigated.

It is hard for me to contest that the figures indicate there are aberrations in different parts of the country. When the figures were presented to me, I asked the Department why a greater number of fixed charge notices are being issued by two particular cameras and one list of cameras than by others. I do not have an answer for the Deputy at present but I have asked officials to inquire into it. Maybe there is a road people speed on consistently. I do not know the answer but I will look at it and I will ask officials to inquire into it because there is a significant deviation between the notices being issued by cameras in one area and those in other areas. I do not have an explanation for the Deputy but I heard what the Deputy said and I have already asked officials to look at it.

I welcome the Minister's comments. I am not campaigning for people who are speeding to have their fines rescinded. There is a problem with the signage, particularly in Glenmore. People who are driving in a 100 km/h zone arrive at an 80 km/h sign and are almost immediately captured by the camera and not given a chance to obey the law. People who were driving below 100 km/h and were captured by this camera, many of whom were decelerating, should be fairly treated. This one camera generated €4.9 million in revenue in 11 months. It is off the charts. It needs to be seriously investigated. Court cases are being taken because people have lost their licences as a result of this camera in Glenmore in particular. It is beyond the pale to think we are penalising people unfairly. They must be treated justly and if it comes to it, their fines and points must be rescinded.

I assume people who receive fixed charge notices for speeding are speeding, - hear me out on this - but it may be the case that they are given insufficient time for the change of speed limit from one area coming into another area. I will look at that. I cannot give the Deputy a categoric answer about the reason for this at present but being frank, looking at the data, it seems unusual that two cameras seem to have so many more fixed charge notices emanating from them than others. I do not think it is because people are safer drivers in one area than in another. I suspect the reason is the positioning of the camera, perhaps coming out of an area that permits a faster speed limit into an area that is perhaps very close, with a slower speed limit. That could be the reason for it. I have asked because the figures jumped out at me when I saw them.