Gardai scrap 914 speeding fines after major blunder on busy road

Irish Daily Mirror

18-07-2025

Hundreds of motorists who received speeding tickets on a busy Irish road are now being told their penalties will be revoked after a major error was discovered with a roadside speed camera system.
Gardai have launched a large-scale operation to contact all affected drivers after the mistake went unnoticed for a full month.
A spokesperson confirmed today that 914 speeding fines issued on the N25 in Kilkenny between May 30 and June 30, 2025 are being scrapped.
The fines, detected by a static speed safety camera system, were all found to have been issued with incorrect offence locations caused by "human error" when inputting data into the processing system.
Of the 914 fixed charge notices issued, 128 were already paid with penalty points applied, while 56 were paid before the error was identified but without penalty points being applied. The remaining 730 notices had not been paid, so no penalty points had been added.
The error was discovered following a query on June 30, 2025 and was immediately corrected. The speed camera resumed valid operations from July 4, 2025 onwards.
A spokesperson explained: "Following a query on June 30, 2025, An Garda Siochana confirmed an error with the offence location on Fixed Charge Notices emanating from the Static Safety Camera located on the N25, Kilkenny. This error is a result of human error when inputting the offence location onto the processing system.
"The error was rectified immediately upon its discovery on the June 30, 2025 and the Static Safety Camera resumed operations with detections from July 4, 2025 being valid."
Chief Superintendent Roads Policing David Harrington said: "An Garda Siochana 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. This error is very much regretted.
"An Garda Siochana 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."
Gardai have informed the Departments of Justice and Transport, the Policing and Community Safety Authority, the Road Safety Authority and the Safety Camera Board about the incident.
Motorists affected by this blunder do not need to take any action. Letters are now being sent out to inform individuals that their fines and penalty points are being cancelled, and refunds will be issued where necessary.
For those with further questions, the FCN Help Desk is available at 0818 50 60 80.
Gardai have also completed a full review of all offence locations related to static and average speed cameras and introduced additional verification steps before new cameras go live to prevent similar errors in the future.
A spokesperson added: "An Garda Siochana takes full responsibility for this error and have completed a review of all offence locations associated with Static and Average Safety Cameras. 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 the any additional static/average safety cameras going live."
If you're caught speeding, you'll receive a €160 fixed charge fine and three penalty points. If the fine isn't paid within 28 days, it increases to €240. Failure to pay within a further 28 days (56 days from the date of issue) will result in a court summons. If convicted in court, you could face a fine of up to €1,000 and up to five penalty points.
However, you can avoid going to court by paying €320 - double the original fine - no later than seven days before the court date stated in the summons.
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