€17m for speed camera firm in 2014

The firm that operates the network of speed camera vans for the Gardaí received monthly payments of €1.43m last year.

The €17.23m paid to the GoSafe consortium in 2014 was confirmed yesterday by Gardaí, who also confirmed the current contract expires in November. A Garda spokeswoman said “the re-tendering of the contract is under review”.

She said that the GoSafe consortium does not receive any performance-related payments.

“Since its introduction in November 2010, the safety camera project has, in a targeted, systematic and transparent way, led to a reduction in fatal collisions and improved speed limit compliance rates in the safety camera zones,” she said.

“For example, in the five years prior to their introduction, approximately 30% of fatal collisions annually were occurring in particular zones.

“In 2014, there was a 50% reduction in fatal collisions in those zones and this was a saving of 29 lives.”

The GoSafe consortium secured the €80m Garda Síochána contract to operate the speed camera vans in 2009 and was recording operating profits of around €50,000 per week in 2012.

However, the consortium has since put their profits off limits by re-registering as an unlimited company, meaning it is no longer required to file annual accounts.

The firm’s operation has come under scrutiny in recent months, with district court judges in Clare and Monaghan throwing out en masse GoSafe speeding prosecutions.

The network of 50 GoSafe vans has netted the State over €20m in speeding penalties and fines over a four-year period.

According to figures provided by the Minister for Justice, Frances Fitzgerald, GoSafe’s Fixed Charge Penalties from speeding fine detections have generated €18.9m in income between November 2010 to the end of June 2014.

The GoSafe vans do not patrol motorways and, in a written Dáil response, Ms Fitzgerald said that the income “is retained and offset against the cost of the safety-camera contract”.