Varadkar wants full investigation into Go Safe allegations

Allegations that privately operated speed cameras are causing drivers to be wrongly fined should be fully investigated, Minister for Transport Leo Varadkar has said.

Mr Varadkar was commenting after claims that some of the privatised speed cameras were partially inaccurate were made by a whistleblower in an RTÉ Prime Time programme broadcast on Tuesday.

Speaking at a transport conference in Dublin yesterday, Mr Varadkar said: “I think it is very important that the allegations are fully investigated.

“The Go Safe cameras are operated under a contract from the gardaí so it is not under my direct remit, but I understand Minister Shatter has asked for a report on it”.

The whistleblower from Go Safe claimed a number of motorists were wrongly fined, even after he warned management that he was unable to set up his equipment properly.

The former Go Safe employee said he only became aware the speed violations had been processed when he was called to appear as a witness in a case against one of the motorists detected by the faulty equipment. The whistleblower asked that all those affected be contacted and offered redress, but was told that only a small number of fixed charge notices had been issued.

Go Safe said it was unable to comment on the issue under the terms of its contract, and referred all queries to the Garda.

The Garda confirmed over 30 motorists did not receive fixed charge notices, adding this could have happened for a variety of reasons including registration plates that were unreadable or vehicles registered in another jurisdiction.

A spokeswoman for the Road Safety Authority has refused to comment on the issue, saying it would be “inappropriate” to pass judgement on Garda operational matters.

Speed cameras
The Go Safe speed cameraswere launched in November 2010. In October last year the Garda approved a significant increase in the amount of speeding enforcement carried out by the private firm. The number of hours per month monitored by speed camera vans provided by the Go Safe consortium increased from 6,000 to 6,725 after 243 new enforcement zones were added to the 518 the firm was already working on.