The Minister for Justice, Helen McEntee TD, has announced a € 9-million investment in 100 new speed cameras as part of a promise in Budget 2025 to spend more on road safety initiatives.
On top of extra funding from last year
That €9 million is in addition to extra funds released last year to the GoSafe speed camera operator, which resulted in a total of 9,000 hours of speed monitoring per month across the country for the entirety of 2024.
According to the Minister, this new €9-million fund will give the Gardaí much-needed extra resources to combat speeding and reduce road deaths, which have spiked in the past 12 months.
Driving without due care
Minister McEntee said: “We have all been shocked by the loss of life on our roads. The most important thing that we can all do is ensure that we practice good road safety and take personal responsibility in keeping others and ourselves safe on our roads. However, there are still too many people willing to drive without due care, be that by speeding, driving recklessly or driving while under the influence of alcohol or drugs.
“Successful road safety strategies require stakeholders to consider a number of matters that together can save lives: technology, road design, driver behaviour and education, severity of penalties, speed limits, and of course, where all else fails, enforcement. We know speed is a significant contributor to road deaths and so it’s vital we leverage technology to make our roads safer for everyone. International experience shows speed cameras lead to drivers reducing speed.”
Dangerous locations
According to the Department for Justice, the locations used by these new cameras will be based on the likelihood of serious incidents in a given area, as well as “speed data and feedback from stakeholders.”
Minister McEntee added: “An Garda Síochána has been investing heavily in roads policing activity and related technology; in recruiting additional Gardaí to roads policing; in assigning roads policing activity to every Garda member daily; in high visibility targeted operations, such as on bank holiday weekends; in automatic number plate recognition technology; and now with additional speed camera enforcement capabilities nationwide. This has resulted in an impressive improvement in road policing enforcement during the course of 2024.Every preventable road death is a tragedy, and together we need to continue to build on the good work already achieved by An Garda Síochána, as we collectively move toward the goal of reducing serious injuries and deaths on our roads.”