Kerry TD Michael Healy-Rae has criticised the deployment of speed vans in the county, claiming they have been used to unfairly target Kerry people travelling to Croke Park and the National Ploughing Championships.

Mr Healy-Rae said speed vans were catching motorists only a few kilometres over the limit and they were more “a money making exercise” than about safety.

He said a speed van was deployed at 5.30 am Wednesday near Templeglantine, Co Limerick to catch Kerry people heading to the ploughing championships.

He also claimed several speed vans were deployed on the day of the Kerry-Dublin All-Ireland football semi-final “to catch Kerry supporters” coming home.

Some of the Independent TD’s complaints were contained in a statement issued Wednesday, which is European Day Without A Road Death.

The initiative has been organised by the Traffic Police network in Europe. Its aim is that no-one dies on the roads of Europe on Wednesday, September 21st.

It is not the first time the Independent TD, the country’s poll topper at the last general election, has clashed with gardaí over the issue of speed vans in Kerry.

Prior to the general election, a large trailer promoting Mr Healy-Rae was parked in an a notorious speed trap on the N69 main Tralee to Listowel Road – in the spot normally occupied by speed vans.

Gardaí sought to move the Healy-Rae trailer but could not as it was on private land.

Listowel gardaí, concerned that Mr Healy-Rae’s election trailer was obstructing the operation of speed vans in what was a GoSafe zone, approached Kerry County Council to determine if the location was private or public land in an attempt to move the TD’s trailer from the site. However it proved to be on private land and Mr Healy-Rae said he was there by invitation.

Mr Healy-Rae said he was getting huge support locally from the people of north Kerry who felt they were being unfairly targeted.

“When Kerry played Dublin recently in the All-Ireland football semi-final in Croke Park, between Duagh and the Six Crosses, six speed vans were purposely deployed at the time that Kerry supporters were entering the county coming home from the match.

“Further down in South Kerry, four more speed vans were deployed just at the time to try and catch Kerry supporters coming home again from the match again on that Sunday,” Mr Healy-Rae said in the statement.

He described the deployment as “disgraceful”.

“I am all for road safety, but to be purposely deploying extra resources to try and catch Kerry supporters coming home from a match is a disgrace,” Mr Healy-Rae said.

He also claimed that on Monday, September 19th, in Farranfore Village “where speed vans are never deployed,” a van was secretly parked in “a very discrete location” within the town limit trying to catch motorists who might be doing one or two kilometres more than the required speed limit.

“Again this is trickery of the worst type. When the whole idea of speed vans was envisaged it was to save lives and to be open and transparent in identifying where the vans were and creating an awareness amongst motorists to slow down and keep within speed limits.

“Now it is a money making exercise and a method of doing everything they can to increase the amount of penalty points bestowed upon road users and in many cases be the cause of people losing their licenses,” the TD said.

He listed other examples of local motorists being targeted “like fish in a barrel”.

“Motorists are being unfairly targeted with penalty points and fines in my opinion. These are respectable, law abiding people who just might happen to be doing a... very small bit over the speed limit and are now paying a very heavy penalty for it.”

The Garda Síochána has said that speed enforcement zones were selected based on safety concerns.

The outsourced safety camera operator, GoSafe, then liaises with local members of the Garda order to identify suitable sites to operate from.

Each site must be clearly visible and risk assessed to ensure the health and safety of both the public and the operators of the safety camera vans, the Garda said.

The Road Safety Authority said Wednesday that safety cameras were proven life savers.

Deployment was a matter for the Garda, an authority spokeswoman said.

“However the Penalty Points system is a voluntary system. If people don’t want to get fined or penalty points for speeding they have the choice not to speed and break the law,” she said.

“Safety cameras are proven life savers and save an average of 26 lives each year on the roads.”