Gardaí revoke nearly 1,000 speed camera fines on one stretch of road over ‘human error’

Motorists hit with fines and penalty points for speeding on the N25 in Kilkenny detected by the static speed camera system between May 30 and June 30 will not have to pay.

Gardaí confirmed the error was “a result of human error when inputting the offence location onto the processing system”.

A total of 914 fixed charge notices were issued for speeding on the N25 over the period.

Of those, 128 were paid and penalty points were applied. 56 fines were paid but the error was identified before penalty points were applied.

The remaining 730 fines were not paid before the error was identified, so no penalty points were applied in those cases.

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The static speed camera on the N25 first came into operation on May 30, meaning the error applied to the first month it was in place. It is one of eight static speed cameras currently operational across the country.

A fixed charge notice for speeding carries a €160 fine and three penalty points.

“An Garda Síochána is very conscious of our statutory responsibility for road safety and is committed to delivering a professional policing service to enforcement of speeding via a variety of speed safety cameras,” chief superintendent for roads policing David Harrington said.

“This error is very much regretted. An Garda Síochána continues to work steadfastly with all our partners in Road Safety endeavouring to reduce the human toll of road deaths and serious injuries on our roads.”

A garda spokesperson confirmed the Departments of Justice and Transport, the Policing and Community Safety Authority, the Road Safety Authority and the Safety Camera board have been informed of the error.

The error, confirmed by gardaí following a query on June 30, was related to “the offence location on Fixed Charge Notices emanating from the Static Safety Camera located on the N25”.

It was then rectified upon its discovery on June 30 and the static speed camera came back into operation on July 4, with all speeding detections valid from that point on.

An Garda Síochána takes full responsibility for this error and have completed a review of all offence locations associated with Static and Average Safety Cameras,” a spokesperson said.

"This error only affected the static camera on the N25. Additional oversight has been introduced in relation to the verification of offence locations on the FCN processing system prior to any additional static/average safety cameras going live.”

Gardaí have started a process of writing to each individual affected by the error, with refunds to be issued and penalty points to be removed if necessary.

"Motorists impacted by this do not need to do anything, they will receive a letter in the post. However, if they have further concerns they can ring the FCN Help Desk at 0818 50 60 80.

"There were no summons issued relating to non-payment of these fines within the prescribed time.”