Ms Andrea Keane:

I thank the Senator. I will provide detail on the position of Dublin Bus and then pass to our colleagues from An Garda Síochána. To reiterate the points made earlier, we are now at a time when technology and the transport industry are significantly integrating. This creates an opportunity. In particular, we are talking about automatic number plate recognition. Dublin City Council trialled fixed artificial intelligence, AI, pole cameras in 2020 and 2021, although we understand that was not for the purposes of enforcement. If there was consensus for a pilot exercise for 12 months, that would serve as a proof of concept and a learning opportunity for all parties. Dublin Bus vehicles are now equipped with up to 14 high-tech cameras, with extremely advanced CCTV quality and recognition features, even compared with the technology five years ago. That could play a vital role in utilising the technology that is in place to improve the journey for all our customers. If the trial were to take place on a designated spine, that would ensure alignment with the BusConnects project that is coming in and would allow operators, the authorities and the law enforcement agencies to learn from this. We do not believe budget would be a constraint on the pilot. The ability this would bring to improve the average speeds in bus lane timings would more than outweigh any cost of implementing it. I will pass to my colleagues from An Garda Síochána to deal with the legislation aspect.