€40m speed camera contract to create 100 jobs

UP TO 100 jobs are expected to be created nationwide after an Irish consortium won the €40m contract to provide the country’s speed camera network.

It’s understood the consortium is headed by Spectra Photo, based in Listowel, Co Kerry, and Hewlett Packard among others.

The official announcement is expected to be made within days by the Garda Press Office and the Department of Justice.

The Government has come under fire for their delay in rolling out the nationwide scheme. Negotiations have been under way between this consortium, and the preferred bidder but a contract has not been fully agreed.

The plan is for about 600 cameras to be rolled out nationwide. Cameras will be installed, mainly in traffic black spots, where drivers will be advised by signs that they are entering a monitored zone.

It is thought the proposed network of cameras could generate half a million speed camera penalties a year.

Taoiseach Brian Cowen told the Dáil earlier this week that they could not give a precise timetable as to when the cameras would be on the road.

“As soon as the contract is concluded, the start-up and roll-out of the network can commence. It is not possible to give a precise timetable in advance of contract discussions being concluded,” he said.

Earlier this year, Road Safety Authority chairman Gay Byrne threatened to resign over the delay in introducing speed cameras.

Under the RSA’s road safety strategy, it had planned for the introduction of speed cameras by the second quarter of 2008.