Fastest Speeds Caught in Ireland 2026: Every Garda Speeding Record

Key findings

1. The fastest: 237 km/h on the N7. Detected at Johnstown, Co. Kildare during the Christmas & New Year 2025/26 campaign — 137 km/h over the 100 km/h limit.
2. The most reckless relative to the limit: 179 km/h in a 60 zone on the R194 at Granard, Co. Longford (Easter bank holiday 2025) — almost three times the limit.
3. 138 km/h in a 50 zone on Cashel Road in Cahir, Tipperary (Easter bank holiday 2026) is the fastest published speed on a town road.
4. 4 published speeds topped 200 km/h, all on national roads and motorways: 237 on the N7, 207 on the N18, 206 on the M6, 201 on the M18.
5. 33 of the 259 drivers were going at least double the limit. Most of them on 50 and 60 km/h roads, where the gap between the limit and the speed is biggest in relative terms.
6. Speeding detections rose at every bank holiday where we can compare 2025 with 2026 — St Patrick’s weekend went from over 2,650 to over 5,000.

The records, on the dial

The grey part of the dial is the speed limit where each driver was caught. The orange part is everything above it. Tap a record to see it on the dial.

The 10 fastest speeds caught in Ireland

Ranked by speed, across January 2025 to September 2026. Every one was published by An Garda Síochána in a press release, and each is linked to its source in the full table.

All ten were on national roads and motorways with 100 or 120 km/h limits. See where the Garda’s cameras are on those roads on our speed camera map.

Most times over the limit

Raw speed favours motorways. Measured against the limit, the picture flips to town and village roads: 9 of the 10 worst were in 50 or 60 km/h zones, where pedestrians, cyclists and junctions are.

Every speed the Garda published, 2025–2026

All 259 published detections. Filter by year and speed limit, and sort by speed, by km/h over or by how many times the limit. Each row links to the Garda release it came from.

“All” also includes 3 speeds from the Christmas 2025/26 campaign whose exact date the Garda didn’t publish (it ran 1 December 2025 – 5 January 2026), including the 237 km/h on the N7.

2025 vs 2026

2026 runs only to September, and the Garda choose which speeds to publish, so treat this as a comparison of the headline detections rather than of driving overall.

All four 200 km/h-plus speeds were caught in winter. The 206 km/h on the M6 came over the St Brigid’s weekend in early February 2025. The other three were all published during the Christmas 2025/26 campaign: 201 km/h on the M18 and 207 km/h on the N18 in December 2025, plus the undated 237 km/h on the N7.

By type of road

How the published extremes compare with everyday driving. The last column is from the RSA’s 2024 Free Speed Survey, which measured ordinary traffic: the share of all drivers over the limit on each kind of road.

The RSA survey found speeding most common on urban roads — 54% of drivers on 30 km/h roads — and more common at night and early morning (8pm–8am). Motorways had the best compliance, with about one driver in six over 120 km/h.

Roads that keep appearing

Some stretches turn up in the Garda’s lists again and again. These were named three or more times between January 2025 and September 2026.

Bank holiday crackdowns: 2025 vs 2026

Most published speeds come from the Garda’s bank holiday roads policing operations. The total number of drivers detected speeding during each one rose sharply in 2026. These are the Garda’s own figures and wording (“over”, “almost”); the operations last five or six days and the exact dates vary.

The Christmas & New Year 2025/26 campaign was bigger again: nearly 26,500 drivers were detected speeding during the campaign (1 Dec 2025 – 5 Jan 2026). On National Slow Down Days, the 24-hour totals were 800 (26 Feb 2025), 1,286 (9 Apr 2025), 920 (1 Sep 2025), just over 1,000 (31 Aug 2026). For the quarterly totals behind these spikes, see our speeding statistics report.

Was it worth it? The time these speeds actually save

Pick a record and a distance. This is simple arithmetic on an empty road at a constant speed — the best possible case for the driver. In real traffic, the saving is smaller.

What these drivers face

Here’s the part that surprises people: if a driver caught at any of these speeds is given a fixed charge, the penalty is the same as for 5 km/h over — €160 and 3 penalty points. The Garda don’t publish how these individual cases were dealt with. Ireland’s speeding fixed charge doesn’t rise with speed. (How the fine escalates if it isn’t paid is in our penalty points guide.)

At these speeds, though, Gardaí don’t have to issue a fixed charge. Section 53 of the Road Traffic Act 1961 makes it an offence to drive “in a manner (including speed)” that is dangerous to the public — and it’s no defence that you were within the limit.

How we built this list

• We went through every press release on garda.ie from January 2025 to September 2026 and took every individual speed the Garda listed — mostly from bank holiday operations, National Slow Down Days and the Christmas campaigns.
• Each speed and limit was then checked again against its source page. Repeats between interim and final releases were removed. Speeds reported only by local media are not included.
• The Garda don’t say whether each speed was caught by a Garda or a GoSafe camera, and they publish only a few examples per operation. So this is a list of the extremes the Garda chose to highlight — not every detection, and not proof of the fastest speed ever recorded.
• Two releases contradict each other on the N80 185 km/h detection (100 km/h zone at Craan in one, 80 km/h at Clonegal in the other); we use the first, dated release. Speeds from the Christmas 2024/25 campaign, which were most likely detected in 2024, are left out.
• No drivers are named or identified.

Cite or download

Free to use with credit. Please link to this page; the underlying detections are An Garda Síochána’s.

odo.ie (2026). Fastest speeds caught in Ireland: every Garda speeding record, January 2025 – September 2026. Compiled from An Garda Síochána press releases. https://www.odo.ie/guides/fastest-speeds-caught-ireland

Download all 259 speeds (CSV)

Frequently asked questions

Sources

Every speed in the table above links to the specific Garda press release it came from. Other sources:

• An Garda Síochána — press releases (2025 and 2026 roads policing operations; each record links to its own release)
• Road Traffic Act 1961, section 53 (dangerous driving), revised
• Road Traffic Act 1961, section 52 (careless driving), revised
• Road Traffic Act 1961, section 26 (consequential disqualification), revised
• Oireachtas written answer, 14 May 2026 — speeding penalties and graduated sanctions
• RSA — 2024 Free Speed Survey findings (published 30 June 2025)
• Citizens Information — speeding fines and penalty points