Almost 60 percent of Donegal's speeding fines are issued in the Letterkenny area

Motorists in Donegal have been fined almost €1million for speeding offences, with new figures showing Letterkenny as the county’s hotspot over a 30-month period.

The statistics reveal that drivers in the Letterkenny district paid €581,360 in speeding fines over two-and-a-half years from January 1 2023, to June 8 of 2025, broken down into amounts of €129,360 in 2023, €147,760 last year and €304,240.

In total, €997,360 worth of speeding fines were collected across the four areas, with Letterkenny accounting for 58.3 percent of the county’s total. The Ballyshannon district ranked second in the county, with fines totalling €300,000, made up of €124,640 in 2023, €148,480 in 2024 and €26,880 this year.

READ NEXT: Donegal shop among those targeted by landmark Anti-Piracy sting

In Milford, drivers were issued with penalties amounting to €57,760 in total, including fines of €17,040 iin 2023, €34,400 in 2024 and €6,320 this year. Buncrana motorists paid €58,240 over the timeframe, split across €22,480 in 2023, €29,840 last year and €5,920 this.

Ireland South MEP Cynthia Ní Mhurchú has called for a get-tough approach to those who are caught doing excessive speeds on our rural roads. 

The MEP has called for a greater concentration of speed vans at accident black spots and on our rural roads where speeding is dramatically impacting on road safety.   The EU Transport Committee MEP made her calls as Gardaí released figures to her showing that €32,437,002 has been collected in fines from Garda speed vans between January 2023, and June 8, 2025. 

Dublin, with €6,227,840 over the two-and-a-half-years, and Tipperary, €3,322,880, were two of the highest grossing counties for the Garda speed vans in the period with Cork and Kildare following closely behind. According to Ní Mhurchú, speeding caused the deaths of 52 Irish people in 2024. 

 “A European Commission report from 2020 estimated that 10 to 15% of all crashes and 30% of all fatal crashes are the direct result of speeding or inappropriate speed,” she quoted. “174 people died on Irish roads in 2024, which means that 52 of those people died as a direct result of speeding (30%). There are 52 families across the country mourning loved ones because we have failed to tackle speeding in any meaningful way” 

Ní Mhurchú welcomed an extra €9 million in funding for up to 100 new speed cameras to enhance road safety at the end of 2024 but said that continual investment in new technology is needed to catch those who are flouting the law. Ní Mhurchú has also called for smarter positioning of our current stock of speed vans to ensure they are located in areas of the highest risk of road fatalities. She has also called for consideration of re-education courses as a judicial sanction for drivers who are repeatedly caught speeding.