Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Independent)

I welcome the fact that the Garda does not fall under the public service employment embargo because I did not want to see an extra garda at the expense of a speech therapist, for example.

Looking at the figures for 2003, there were two Garda divisions where 84,000 speeding fines were applied, while the other four divisions accounted for 73,000 such fines. Accordingly there is a disproportionate application of speeding fines relative to the population. I asked if the traffic corps would be treated separately in order that the speeding fines would be applied evenly around the country. People often note for example that a Gatso camera van is frequently located at a particular place on the N4 where its task is like shooting fish in a barrel. It is very easy to collect fines in that way. If we are to have a traffic corps which will prevent road traffic accidents, it should look at the profiles of accidents around the country and apportion speeding fines on that basis rather than concentrating on areas where return can be reaped in terms of fines, which is what currently seems to happen. Is this how the traffic corps will operate?

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