Mattie McGrath (Tipperary, Independent)
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455. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality the costs associated with operating the Garda safety camera contract; the receipts it has generated in each of the past six years; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [35725/18]

Charles Flanagan (Laois, Fine Gael)
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I am advised by An Garda Síochána that the amount paid to Road Safety Operations Ireland, trading as GoSafe, for the provision and operation of safety cameras was €14.6 million in 2017.

The duration of the current contract is 6 years with effect from the Services Commencement Date (1 May 2017), with the option to extend the contract for an additional 12 months. The estimated cost of the core safety camera service over 6 years is approximately €73 million excluding VAT (Total cost of the safety camera contract over 7 years is estimated at €100.4 million, including VAT). This represents a reduction of approximately 14% when compared with the cost which would have arisen over that time based on the charges under the previous contract.

Under the current contract, GoSafe will provide an annual minimum of 90,000 hours of monitoring and surveying vehicle speed across 1,031 designated safety camera zones. This equates to a minimum of 7,400 monitoring hours and 100 survey hours a month. This represents an annual increase of 300 hours on the previous contract. The current contract also contains provisions for up to 1,500 additional monitoring hours within any calendar month and the option to avail of fixed, temporary fixed and average speed safety camera systems.

The role of the Safety Camera Contract is critical in the context of road traffic enforcement, improving road safety by changing driver behaviour in order to reduce road traffic fatalities and serious injuries by reducing the incidence of drivers exceeding stipulated speed limits, in circumstances where speeding is known to be a significant factor behind serious collisions. As such, the deployment of safety cameras is determined by road safety considerations as opposed to revenue maximisation.

The overall impact of the safety cameras can be seen in the impact on the fatal collisions in the designated safety camera zones, referred to as speed enforcement zones. The designation of specific sections of road as speed enforcement zones is based on an analysis of collision data by An Garda Síochána. In the years 2004 to 2009 (the 6 years before the introduction of the safety camera network began), approximately 3 out of 10 (30%) fatal collisions occurred in these zones. In 2015, this figure had reduced to 16% (or 24 road deaths) in safety camera zones.

The safety camera network has made a critical contribution to road traffic enforcement and, by extension, road safety, since its inception, and will continue to provide valuable support to An Garda Síochána in the context of roads policing.

In relation to the statistics sought by the Deputy on receipts generated as a result of the safety camera contract for each of the past six years, the Deputy will recall that statistics for each year from 2010 to the end of May 2016 were provided in response to his Parliamentary Question No. 59 of 16 September 2016. To be of assistance, the statistics relating to the years referred to in the Deputy's current question are reproduced below.

I have requested a report from An Garda Síochána in relation to receipts generated as a result of the safety camera contract for the years 2016 and 2017 and I will be in contact with the Deputy directly on receipt of this report.