Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 1 July 2026
23. Deputy Peter Roche asked the Minister for Justice, Home Affairs and Migration if his Department has assessed the need to increase the number of roadside speed cameras operating under the remit of An Garda Síochána in order to address dangerous speeding on Irish roads; whether consideration has been given to the potential risk of attacks on speed enforcement vans; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [49848/26]
View answerSpeeding remains one of the greatest risk factors on our roads. Speed reduces the time people have to react and makes collisions much more likely. It also makes it more likely that when collisions happen, they will lead to death or very serious injuries.
Whether it is fixed cameras, average speed cameras or GoSafe vans, we need to use technology to work to reduce speeding on our roads. An Garda Síochána has contributed to making our roads safer through the use of mobile safety cameras, using service provider GoSafe to operate them on its behalf, enforcement cameras operated using marked Garda vehicles, and static speed cameras. GoSafe vans are only located in areas where it is safe to do so, following assessment by GoSafe and An Garda Síochána. Any person who intentionally damages a safety camera van, or assaults a van's operator, can be charged and prosecuted.
The increased deployment of safety cameras in the coming years is a key action to be delivered under Action 6 of the Phase 2 Action Plan, as part of the all-of-Government Road Safety Strategy and is also a commitment in the Programme for Government.
The National Safety Camera Strategy was published on 29 April by Minister of State Canney in the Department of Transport. This Strategy provides the framework for the increased deployment of cameras across the network, in both urban and rural locations, to assist with the enforcement of a wide range of road traffic offences.
The Strategy sets out a partnership approach for camera deployment and enforcement between An Garda Síochána, Transport Infrastructure Ireland (TII) and the National Transport Authority (NTA). The Strategy focuses on speeding, red light running, and bus lane infringements, with flexibility for the enforcement of other types of offence in future.
I am glad to report that speed camera enforcement has been increasing. There are now five average safety cameras and nine static safety cameras in operation across the network. In addition, there are also 9,000 hours of AGS GoSafe monitoring carried out on our roads each month. This has increased from 7,500 hours in 2024.
This year, from 1 January, An Garda Síochána introduced 390 new safety camera zones, including 55 community request safety camera zones, bringing the total to 1,901 safety camera zones nationwide.
It is important to emphasise that checkpoints and enforcement can only be part of the solution. The use of improved technology, additional speed cameras and enhanced data sharing are also helping to ensure a multi-faceted approach to road safety enforcement in Ireland.
Crucially, as a community, we also need to look to ourselves and those closest to us to challenge poor behaviour on our roads.
I want to repeat the message to everyone to please slow down and protect everyone on our roads. No matter how you use the road, please exercise extreme caution and stay safe. Reckless behaviour, selfish choices, excess speed, drink and drug driving, distracted driving, not wearing a seatbelt: these choices, these behaviours on our roads lead inevitably to death, destruction and despair.
