Speed vans collect €293,040 in Carlow

GARDA speed vans in Carlow and Kilkenny collected €765,440 in fines over a 30-month period from January 2023 to June 2025, new figures reveal. The Carlow garda district generated €293,040 in revenue, while Kilkenny collected €362,800. The Thomastown district contributed €109,600 to the total.

However, revenue from speed vans in the two counties fell by 13.4% between 2023 and 2024, dropping from €378,320 to €327,520.

The local figures were released as part of national data showing that garda speed vans collected over €32 million across Ireland during the same period.

Ireland South MEP Cynthia Ní Mhurchú, who obtained the figures, has called for a “get tough approach” on speeding, particularly on rural roads and at accident black spots.

“There are 52 families across the country mourning loved ones because we have failed to tackle speeding in any meaningful way,” said Ms Ní Mhurchú, citing her calculation that speeding caused 52 deaths on Irish roads in 2024. The MEP based this figure on a 2020 European Commission report estimating that 30% of fatal crashes result from speeding or inappropriate speed. With 174 road deaths recorded in Ireland in 2024, she calculated that 52 were speed related.

Nationally, Dublin topped the revenue table with €6.2 million collected, followed by Tipperary (€3.3 million) and Cork (€2.9 million). Revenue from Carlow and Kilkenny was “considerably lower than surrounding counties”, according to the press release.

The figures also revealed that the speed van system operates at an overall loss, with gardaí paying over €44 million to private speed camera operators between early 2023 and August 2025.

Overall revenue from speed vans fell by 15.9% nationally between 2023 and 2024.

Ms Ní Mhurchú welcomed additional funding of €9 million announced at the end of 2024 for up to 100 new speed cameras, but called for smarter positioning of current equipment and consideration of re-education courses for repeat offenders.