Minister for Transport Martin Cullen has announced plans for legislation this autumn allowing for the privatisation of speed cameras. This will eventually lead to the targeting of hundreds of accident and speeding black-spots.
It follows the publication of a report by an expert working group which recommended the privatisation.
It also advocated the use of cameras mounted in vans to concentrate on rural and other non-national roads, where most fatalities and serious accidents occur.
Yesterday, Mr Cullen and Minister for Justice Michael McDowell said the new camera system would remain under the direction of the Garda, whose members would be freed up to concentrate on other road-policing activities such as targeting drink-driving.
The cameras are expected to take in €70 million in their first year of operation.
The money from the fines will go directly to the Exchequer and will not be used to finance the system, which will cost €25 million to operate in its first five years.
The report says the financing of the system must be separate to ensure that there can be no claims that the system is being used as a revenue-raising mechanism, an accusation that has brought the privatised speed camera system into controversy in England.
The report, which was written by senior gardaí and civil servants, advised that more speed checks should take place at weekends than on weekdays.
It says the highest proportion of checks should take place between midnight and 3am.
It also recommends that 80 per cent of the speed checks should be from hidden cameras during the first year.
Because many fatal accidents are attributed to speeding on minor roads, the report recommends that only 3 per cent of checks should take place on motorways and dual-carriageways, and that half should be on national roads.
A large proportion of speed checks have previously been mounted on high-volume motorways and dual-carriageways, leading to complaints that gardaí were failing to target roads where most serious accidents take place.
Mr Cullen said the privatisation decision was "a central part" of the Government's road safety strategy.
"If we are to save lives and reduce injuries speed cameras must be located at accident blackspots, and overall operational responsibility must rest with the Garda.
"In taking this approach the public can be confident in the effectiveness of private speed cameras and thereby make a further improvement in road safety."
Mr McDowell said the initiative would also "release Garda resources to concentrate their enforcement efforts on other motoring offences which cause death and destruction on our roads such as drink-driving".
The report, which was first outlined two weeks ago in The Irish Times, states that 60 per cent of speed-related fatalities and 70 per cent of speed-related injuries occur on regional and local roads.
According to the report, there is also a good case for using fixed cameras "at a limited number of motorway and dual-carriageway locations with a previous history of speed-related collisions".
The report says mobile cameras will be able to operate covertly, most likely on heavily-trafficked routes, but covert checks will be most effective in deterring drivers who tend to consistently offend.
It advises that drivers "must be convinced of the reason for choosing each and every site".
The National Roads Authority and the Garda have been working on identifying accident blackspots and areas of high speeding.
It is expected that once up and running the average driver can expect to pass through a speed check at least once a month.
The privatisation of speed cameras is the biggest anti-speeding initiative since the introduction of penalty points three years ago.
That measure saw the number of road deaths drop to a 40-year low in its first 12 months of operation. Since then, the fatality rate has been rising back to pre-penalty point levels.
By Friday morning last 222 people had been killed on roads in the Republic.