The minister signalled that increasing the use of average-speed cameras could lead to a reduction in the road policing unit and said she believed the technology should be a daily feature in a driver’s journey.

Speaking to reporters at a garda presentation tent at the National Ploughing Championships, she said the road safety measure had been successful in jurisdictions such as Scotland.

“They use average speed cameras much more. They have less of a road policing unit, they use technology in a different way and I think it’s something we need to look at.”

Ireland currently has average-speed cameras on the M7 motorway and the Dublin Port Tunnel. She said there had been a high level of compliance with speed limits on these routes.

McEntee said: “So, if you were to apply that to certain stretches of roads that we know are really dangerous, that are black spots, I really think it would make a difference.

“Whether it’s fixed cameras, average speed cameras, GoSafe vans, we need to use technology to work to reverse some of these trends.”

Last week, The Journal reported that speed limits of 30 km/h is to be recommended for many roads across Ireland in one of the biggest overhauls of speed limits the country has ever seen.

The speed limit of 30 km/h will apply to all urban centres, residential roads, and anywhere with a lot of pedestrians or cyclists. In practice, this will include many parts of Dublin as well as town and city centres across the country. 

There would be exceptions for national, regional, arterial, and key public transport routes, where it’s recommended the speed limit will be 50 km/h.

Certain ‘transitional’ routes would have limits of 60 km/h, while higher limits will still apply on motorways, some dual carriageways and other main routes. 

In rural areas, the report says default speed limits should remain as they currently are on most rural roads – but drop to 80 km/h on national secondary roads, where the limit is currently 100 km/h.

On local roads, the limit would drop from 80 km/h to 60 km/h on many routes. 

Additional reporting from Christina Finn, Jane Matthews and Christine Bohan.