Mr. Seamus McCarthy:

About 35,000. If one compares that to the Garda camera figures, one can see that there was an initial detection level of about 45,000 and then it went up and has been at a level of 52,000 or 53,000 ever since then.

Elsewhere - I think this was mentioned this morning by the head of the RSA - with regard to speed testing, which is also done by the GoSafe cameras in the areas where they operate, the indications are that there has been a significant improvement in speed detections. If one goes to table 8.3 on page 113, one can see what happened between January 2011 and January 2013, because we analysed the figures by the speed limit. If one looks at the 100 km/h section, in January 2011, when speed compliance was tested, it was found that 96% of drivers were compliant with the speed limit, but by the end of January 2013, that level of compliance had gone up to 99%. It is something of an improvement and is to be welcomed. Compliance with the 50 km/h speed limit, however, went from 62% to 93%. Part of what may be going on there is that, because the speed cameras are very identifiable in specific places, people who are driving in those areas recognise that there is a stronger likelihood of being detected and, therefore, they are able to change their behaviour in the areas where the visible GoSafe cameras are operating.

Figure 8.2 shows an analysis of the number of collisions resulting in a fatality in areas where GoSafe cameras are operating and areas where they are not operating. There are many areas where GoSafe cameras are not operating and where a level of fatalities is occurring. Therefore, we raised a question about how An Garda Síochána decides the best place to deploy the GoSafe cameras, and there has been some revision of that.

The final point I would make is that it is not simply a question of the operational effectiveness of GoSafe, and I do not want to comment on that. They are not free to operate in places of their choosing. They operate where it is agreed with An Garda Síochána that they can operate. There is the element, which I think is clear in the statistics, that where it has been identified that they are operating there seems to be a higher level of compliance and, therefore, a lower rate of detection.

On just one final point with regard to the cost of the GoSafe system, the actual expenditure is working out at about €15 million a year. Where the figure of €11 million that Mr. O'Mahony has quoted comes from is that the payments related to detections amount to about €4 million a year, and that is netted off. Strictly speaking, the cost of operating the number of cameras is the gross figure. It is about €15 million to €16 million a year. I just wanted to make sure that the record was correct about that.