Olivia Mitchell (Dublin South, Fine Gael)
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Question 111: To ask the Minister for Transport if legislation is required to make automated number plate recognition admissible as proof of commission of a speeding offence in cases taken before the courts. [16733/05]

Martin Cullen (Waterford, Fianna Fail)
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Section 21 of the Road Traffic Act 2002 provides an appropriate and comprehensive basis for the use of apparatus, including cameras, for the purpose of establishing both evidence in respect of a range of traffic offences, including speeding offences, and for identifying the vehicles involved in the alleged commission of those offences. The parameters established in section 21 for the use of apparatus generally are stated in the broadest possible manner in order to facilitate the deployment of any technology currently in use.

Decisions relating to both the type of equipment and the technology to be deployed to support enforcement are matters for the determination of the Garda Commissioner. The equipment deployed by the gardaí presents evidence relating to the offence and records details of the registration plate of the vehicle concerned. In the case of speeding offences, the fixed charge notice issued following detection is served on the registered owner of the vehicle whose identity is established through inquiries made of the national vehicle file by the gardaí based on the registration plate details recorded by the apparatus used for detection purposes.