Privatised cameras get go-ahead

A CONTRACT FOR the provision of privatised speed cameras is to be signed within days, after the Attorney General advised the Government there is no significant concern arising from an objection lodged by one of the unsuccessful bidders.

At a meeting with the Garda Commissioner Fachtna Murphy yesterday Attorney General Paul Gallagher advised that the five-year contract - worth up to €100 million - can be awarded to the preferred bidder, the Go Safe consortium.

The contract to provide 6,000 hours of camera monitoring per month will see the State's speed enforcement capacity increase significantly.

Earlier this year the secretary general of the Department of Justice, Seán Aylward, said the proposed network may generate half a million speeding penalties a year. This is over and above the 200,000 speeding motorists currently detected using Gatso vans and hand-held units. At €80 per speeding fine, the privatised speed cameras alone could generate roughly €40 million a year from fines.

The contract may to be signed as early as today. The Minister for Justice Dermot Ahern and the Minister for Transport Noel Dempsey are due to hold a road safety briefing at Garda Headquarters this afternoon. The cameras were due to be introduced in June, but were delayed due to rows over funding and the legal objection. The Serco objection raised concerns about the tender process but centred on its costing of €13 million per annum - about €5 million below the winning bid.

This objection was referred to the Attorney General for an opinion on the possibility of the State being sued, were it to proceed and award the contract.

Serco is understood to be disappointed by the decision to proceed with awarding the contract. However, it is thought unlikely that Serco will pursue a legal challenge at this time.

The speed camera project has been beset by problems, including a Cabinet disagreement over its cost - despite the Exchequer standing to gain significant revenue from fines - and the legal challenge.

For 2009 the Government has provided half the annual funding of €20 million for speed cameras, meaning they will almost certainly not appear on Irish roads before the middle of next year, and therefore not in the run-up to the local and European elections.

The GoSafe consortium includes Spectra, French firm Egis (the parent company of Transroute which operates the Dublin Port Tunnel) and Australian multinational Redflex.