NEW: Static Speed Cameras: the Super Speed Cameras You Can't Escape

They're a legal "goldmine"...

Speeding is still the biggest offence detected on Irish roads.

By far.

According to the Department of Transport statistics there were 428,528 speeding offences recorded on Irish driver’s licenses' in June 2025.

"Speeding offences actually dropped by 4% in Cork

and 5% in Dublin.

But they rose elsewhere,

and in a certain part of the country, dramatically.

The Southeast to be precise

and the rise here was extraordinary"

One year later that number had risen slightly to 441,602, a modest rise of about 13,000 speeding offences in a year, or about 3.1%.

Not much to report there, until you dig into the statistics.

Speeding offences actually dropped by 4% in Cork and 5% in Dublin.

But they rose elsewhere, and in a certain part of the country, dramatically.

The Southeast to be precise and the rise here was extraordinary.

In Kilkenny speeding offences recorded on licenses rose by 30%, from 7,340 to 9,514 between 2025 and 2026.

In Waterford they rose from 9,773 in 2025 to 14,078 in 2026, a massive rise of 44%.

But these were nothing compared to Carlow and Wexford.

In Carlow speed offences rose from 5,213 to 8,250, a staggering rise of 58% in one year.

In Wexford they went higher, from 15,397 to 24,503 in 12 months, a rise of 59%.

Any business that could report yearly increases in revenues of 30%, 44%, 58%, 59% would be regarded as “out of this world”.

These are enormous increases across four counties.

What’s causing it?

Have the Gardai in Carlow, Waterford and Wexford suddenly become exponentially more effective in a 12-month period than their colleagues in Cork and Dublin?

"Wexford (a county with a fraction of Dublin’s population)

now accounts for about one third of Dublin’s total speeding offences

i.e. 24,503 v. 83,594"

Hardly. Something else is going on.

Static Speed Cameras to be precise.

May 2025 saw the introduction of 3 new static speed cameras in Carlow, Waterford and Wexford.

Static speed cameras are located at fixed locations where fatal accidents have traditionally occurred.

They use radar to capture speeding vehicles and fines are sent to the owner of the vehicle detected. There are 9 static speed cameras nationwide.

According to the Garda website all 9 static speed cameras are funded from the Garda budget and cost “approximately €2.4 million over the next 18 months”.

On 16 June 2026 the Munster Express reported that:

“If all these fines were paid the camera would have generated around €5 million in charges.”

One in particular -Glenmore in South Kilkenny- has been extraordinarily successful for the State’s coffers.

It is a money-making machine.

Since it went live on 30 May 2025 it has generated 30,599 fines. Each offence is 3 penalty points and €160.  

Think about that: €5m in a year.

If it costs €2.4m to operate all 9 cameras for the next 18 months, then one camera in Kilkenny has paid for the cost and instalment of every static speed camera in the country in 6 months.

The total national increase in speeding offences applied to licences in 12 months was 13,074.

But the four counties of Carlow, Waterford, Kilkenny and Wexford added 18,600 in that same period, far more than the total national increase of 13,074.

In other words, if you stripped away those 4 counties the number of speeding offences added to Irish licences would have fallen by over 5,500 across the country.

"If it costs €2.4m to operate all 9 cameras for the next 18 months,

then one camera in Kilkenny has paid for the cost and instalment

of every static speed camera in the country in 6 months"

 

The government is always looking for ways of extracting money from the public.

With the stratospheric success of these 4 cameras, especially the one at Glenmore, they have found a new way forward. The road at Glenmore used to have a 100kph limit, but this has been reduced to 80kph.

Plainly it is catching a lot of people out.

Put it another way: Wexford (a county with a fraction of Dublin’s population) now accounts for about one third of Dublin’s total speeding offences i.e. 24,503 v. 83,594.

"Not only will you have to watch out for Gardai with laser guns

at the side of the road, you’ll now have to battle static cameras

that stand there silently 24 hours a day, 7 days a week,

in all weathers,

waiting for you.

And they never get sick"

What does this tell us?

This is only the beginning.

According to the Garda website the Commissioner is investigating whether 100 more of these static speed cameras can be installed nationwide.

You will see a lot more of these cameras from now on.

So not only will you have to watch out for Gardai with laser guns at the side of the road, you’ll now have to battle static cameras that stand there silently 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, in all weathers, waiting for you.

And they never get sick.