GARDA speed vans netted almost €2.9m across Cork in 30 months – the third highest level of fines in the country – new figures show. The statistics highlight Bandon as one of Cork’s top districts for detecting speeding motorists.
Gardaí released a breakdown of speed fines showing a total of €32,437,002 has been collected nationwide from Garda speed vans between January 2023 and June 8th, 2025.
Dublin ranks as the highest offender for motorists exceeding the speed limit with €6,227,840 collected in fines over that period. In second place was Tipperary with €3,322,880.
And Cork came in third with €2,893,200, according to the statistics which were provided to Ireland South MEP Cynthia Ní Mhurchú. She has now called for a get-tough approach to those who are caught doing excessive speeds on our rural roads.
The MEP wants a greater concentration of speed vans at accident black spots and on rural roads where speeding is dramatically impacting on road safety.
Togher Garda district in Cork city collected the most fines across the county for the 30-month period, at over €700,000. This was followed by Mayfield (€513,200) and Bandon (€466,160) garda districts.
Ní Mhurchú questioned why revenue from speed vans across all garda districts fell by 15.9% between 2023 and 2024. Garda figures also show gardaí paid out over €44m to private speed camera operators between the start of 2023 and August 18th, 2025, meaning that the garda speed van system is operating at an overall loss.
Speeding caused the deaths of 52 people on Irish roads in 2024, according to the MEP. She welcomed an extra €9m in funding for up to 100 new speed cameras to enhance road safety at the end of 2024 but said that continual investment in new technology is needed to catch those who are flouting the law.
A garda spokesman stressed that road safety was the priority with its partner GoSafe who operate speed camera vans, which are ‘not about raising revenue’.
