Mr. John O'Brien:

There are discussions between the Garda Síochána and GoSafe and it is probably in the contract that exists between the State and GoSafe that this is their method of operation. There may also be an intention of making their operation error-proof by being extraordinarily parsimonious in terms of how they operate, which results in inflexibility, but it is not a good operational tool.

The other side of the coin, of course, is the one that we all object to, which is what we call shooting fish in a barrel. In many areas of the country, particularly rural areas, there are speed limits that really leave a lot to be desired in terms of their efficiency, and if one wanted to take the hair-dryer approach in a particular location, one could get a lot of detections that have no real benefit in terms of the road safety component but that will keep the numbers ticking over. One has to have a balance between the rigidity that is there at the moment and the inappropriate application of speed detection measures in areas where clearly road safety is not in question.