McEntee: Tech must be used 'in whatever way we can' after 'really awful summer' on Irish roads 

Justice Minister Helen McEntee said it had been a 'really awful summer' concerning deaths on Irish roads, with worrying trends going in the wrong direction

Justice minister Helen McEntee and Garda Commissioner Drew Harris: Ms McEntee said she had been 'absolutely reassured' that no Garda units would be disbanded. Picture: Niall Carson/PA Wire

Justice Minister Helen McEntee has said road safety technology such as average speed cameras should become the norm for drivers in the future.

Ms McEntee said it had been a “really awful summer” concerning deaths on Irish roads, with worrying trends going in the wrong direction.

When asked if she believed average speed cameras would become a daily feature of drivers' lives, she said: “I think it should be. I think we need to use technology in whatever way we can whether it's fixed cameras, whether it's average speed cameras, whether it's the Go Safe vans. 

“We need to do everything we can to reverse that trend and it’s looking at the key factors that result in many of these incidents and crashes and unfortunately deaths on our roads and speeding is the top one,” she said, adding: “I do think we need to look more at average speed cameras.” 

Ms McEntee said gardaí would be meeting with a team from Scotland in the next month to see how average speed cameras could be used effectively.

“If you look to Scotland as a jurisdiction, [it has a] similar population, similar roads profile.

“They use average speed cameras much more and they have less road policing units. They use technology in a different way and I think it's something that we need to look at,” she said.

Ms McEntee said compliance was about 98% at the two average speed cameras currently in use in Ireland, one on the M7 and one at the Port Tunnel in Dublin.

“So if you were to apply that to certain stretches of roads where we know are dangerous, where there are black spots, I really think it would make a difference,” she said.

Garda units

Separately, Ms McEntee said she had been “absolutely reassured” that no Garda units would be disbanded.

However, she added there would be a “reorganising of certain units”.

“But the number of gardaí that we have at the moment, while it's not as high as I'd like it to be, it is higher than the number of guards that we had when this roster was first introduced. 

"So there should be no diminution in the services or the response by gardaí to members of the public to members of the community,” she said. 

It comes as Garda management in Limerick informed members attached to community policing that their units were being disbanded, and they were being reassigned to core frontline duties, according to Garda Frank Thornton of the Garda Representative Association (GRA).

However, speaking at the Ploughing Championships in Laois on Tuesday, the Justice Minister said she had been given assurances by the Garda Commissioner and by senior management.

“There will be no disbanding of any teams. There may be reorganising, there may be units that will change and alter, but there will be no disbanding of the units,” she said.

Meanwhile, Sinn Féin justice spokesperson Pa Daly said he had been contacted by several rank-and-file gardaí, primarily with concerns over the disbanding of specialised units.

In a statement released after Ms McEntee spoke to reporters, Mr Daly said: “After other comments on the matter, I have been contacted by many ordinary gardaí. They indicate that specialised units are being disbanded and many are being assigned to regular units.” 

He said burglary or domestic violence units being disbanded in Limerick and Dublin was “of great concern”.

He said the fundamental issue was the low levels of staff as a result of the “Government’s failings in the area”.

“Until recruitment and retention are taken seriously, there will continue to be challenges in assigning officers between units,” he said.