Warden agency's clarification

Your article 'Company rakes in profit from wardens, cameras' (April 12) does not give a true and fair picture of reality.

All contracts for the local enforcement service, of which the wardens and the speed cameras form part, are subject to a competitive tendering process. Each local council or regional joint committee, which adjudicated and awarded this tender, selected the warden agency of its choice because it offered the best service, the best value for money and built the best working relationship over a period of time.

The Guard and Warden Service House Ltd does charge a fee of €18 per hour for its services, apart from those for traffic management, which are charged at €7.95 per hour. The €18 hourly rate includes:

• the warden, who is paid a fee of €5 per hour, plus €2.80 to cover other employment costs;

• the car/motorbike, together with petrol and running costs;

• the equipment, which costs over €4,000 per warden and has a short life span;

• the software licences paid to a third party, who runs the local enforcement system;

• the field officers;

• the administrative support;

• VAT;

• all other normal overheads of any company, including government licences, permits, etc.

Trying to insinuate that a high hourly rate means the company is 'raking in' high profits is not the case at all. The local councils are all aware that the system is expensive. Various suggestions are being put forward to try to find different ways to run an enforcement system without having to bear such a cost base.

With regard to speed cameras, fines were reduced to €34.95 over two years ago and, while one can confirm that during the first three months a number of fines are issued, reality shows that this is reduced to practically nothing over a short period.

What happens after this? Do we stop enforcement? To give a true picture, one must see what happens over a 12- or 15-month period to understand the cost base and then draw conclusions. All local councils were given the option to purchase, lease or have a revenue-sharing agreement.

All councils, without exception, opted for the safest and long-lasting set-up of revenue-sharing, which implies that the warden agency takes on all the financial risk and bears the costs throughout the speed camera's lifetime, including the high capital outlay both for the speed camera and the back-end infrastructure, maintenance, calibration and licence fees.