Donegal Garda speed vans collect almost €1m in 30 months.

That’s according to figures released to Ireland South MEP Cynthia Ní Mhurchú, who has called for a get-tough approach to those who are caught doing excessive speeds on our rural roads. The MEP has called for a greater concentration of speed vans at accident black spots and on our rural roads where speeding is dramatically impacting on road safety.

The EU Transport Committee MEP made her calls as Gardaí released figures to her showing that €32,437,002 has been collected in fines from Garda speed vans between January 2023, and June 8th, 2025. Ní Mhurchú questioned why revenue from speed vans across all garda districts fell by 15.9 per cent between 2023 and 2024.

Garda figures released to Ní Mhurchu also show that Gardaí paid out over €44m euro to private speed camera operators between the start of 2023 and up to August 18, 2025, meaning that the Garda speed van system is operating at an overall loss.

Dublin and Tipperary were two of the highest grossing counties for the Garda speed vans in the period with Cork and Kildare following closely behind. Donegal speed vans collected €997,360 in the 30-month period from January 2023 to June 8th , 2025. The highest number of fines were collected in Letterkenny followed by Ballyshannon Garda district followed by Buncrana and Milford.

 According to Ní Mhurchú, speeding caused the deaths of 52 Irish people in 2024.

“A European Commission report from 2020 estimated that 10 to 15 per cent of all crashes and 30 per cent of all fatal crashes are the direct result of speeding or inappropriate speed. 174 people died on Irish roads in 2024, which means that 52 of those people died as a direct result of speeding (30 per cent). There are 52 families across the country mourning loved ones because we have failed to tackle speeding in any meaningful way”

Ní Mhurchú  welcomed an extra €9 million in funding for up to 100 new speed cameras to enhance road safety at the end of 2024 but said that continual investment in new technology is needed to catch those who are flouting the law.

Ní Mhurchú  has also called for smarter positioning of our current stock of speed vans to ensure they are located in areas of highest risk of road fatalities. She has also called for consideration of re-education courses as a judicial sanction for drivers who are repeatedly caught speeding.