Wexford drivers caught by speed vans have paid over €850k in fines since 2023

By Simon Bourke, Wexford People

Speeding drivers in Co Wexford have paid over €850,000 in fines since 2023 according to new figures released by Ireland South MEP Cynthia Ní Mhurchú. The figures, which document fines issued to those detected by speed vans, reveal that motorists in the Enniscorthy district were the most heavily penalised (€414,320) for speeding in the period from January 1, 2023 to August 18, 2025.

Drivers in the Wexford town area were fined €307,520 during the same time period, with those in New Ross fined €134,000.

In total, drivers in Co Wexford were fined €855,840 for speeding between 2023 and August of this year with the bulk of the fines issued in 2023 (€452,080). Nationally over €32m was collected in fines from drivers detected by Garda speed vans. Dublin and Tipperary were two of the highest grossing counties for the Garda speed vans in the period with Cork and Kildare following closely behind.

And the Ireland South MEP has called for “a get-tough approach” to those caught doing excessive speeds on our rural roads and a “greater concentration of speed vans” at accident black spots and on rural roads where speeding is dramatically impacting on road safety.

“A European Commission report from 2020 estimated that 10 to 15 per cent of all crashes and 30 per cent of all fatal crashes are the direct result of speeding or inappropriate speed,” said Ní Mhurchú. “174 people died on Irish roads in 2024, which means that 52 of those people died as a direct result of speeding (30 per cent). There are 52 families across the country mourning loved ones because we have failed to tackle speeding in any meaningful way.”

Although she has questioned why revenue from speed vans across all garda districts fell by 15.9 per cent between 2023 and 2024, the MEP has welcomed an extra €9m in funding for up to 100 new speed cameras to enhance road safety and called for “smarter positioning” of vans in areas of highest risk of road fatalities.

Garda figures released to Ní Mhurchu also show that Gardaí paid out over €44m to private speed camera operators between the start of 2023 and up to August 18, 2025, meaning that the Garda speed van system is operating at an overall loss.