Patsy McArdle
A ruling that may have significant implications for speeding cases has been taken at Monaghan District Court.
Judge Seán MacBride dismissed all 17 “Go Safe” van prosecutions after declaring that he believed “the chain of evidence was inherently flawed” and there were “defects in the serving of the summonses”.
The judge also declared from the bench that he will be dismissing all such cases in his court area – which covers counties Cavan and Monaghan. The cases had arisen from detections by "Go Safe" vans, which operate for a private company, known as Road Safety Operations (Ireland).
“Go Safe” speed detection vans are distinct from those known as “Gatso” vans, which are operated directly by gardaí themselves.
Inspector John Joseph McDonald, of the Garda Fixed Penalty Office in Thurles, in whose name all Go Safe prosecutions are pursued, had traveled to the court to give evidence after Judge MacBride had acceded to an request by Inspector Pat Gilsenan, Monaghan, at an earlier court hearing, to defer his decision on the matter in order to allow Inspector McDonald to clarify how the 'Go Safe' prosecutions were taken .
Dismissing all the cases, Judge MacBride remarked that ‘Go Safe’ vans were often operating just inside or outside 30 kph zones, in places where detecting offences was like fishing in a “goldfish bowl” .
He added the ‘Go Safe’ operation was actually “bringing the law into disrepute”.