Speed vans are being put in 'sneaky locations', according to Independent TD Michael Healy-Rae
The Kerry TD claims motorists are being scrutinised "as if they were complete criminals".
It comes after new figures revealed an increase in the number of speeding fines being paid, with a 9% jump last year compared to 2018.
Freedom of information figures released to Newstalk show gardaí collected €10.5 million from 120,000 fines in 2019.
Reacting to the figures on Newstalk Breakfast, Deputy Healy-Rae said: "The speed vans are now being located at locations where there are no signs alerting people they're there... they're located at what I'd call 'sneaky locations'... hidden where they can't be seen.
"If you're caught just being one or two or three miles over the limit, and you [end up with] fines... you wouldn't like it either."
He claimed that fines and penalty points are now being used as a "way of bringing money into the State" as opposed to a road safety measure.
He insisted that everyone wants to save lives, but he doesn't want to see people "criminalised or demonised" for being one or two kilometres over the speed limit.
The Kerry TD also said he was "very happy" that outgoing Transport Minister Shane Ross' plan for graduated speeding fines now appears to not be going ahead.
The legislation - which is currently facing pre-legislative scrutiny but could be dropped by the next government - would see drivers facing harsher penalties, the faster they go
Shane Ross response
Also speaking on Breakfast, Minister Ross said he rejected Deputy Healy-Rae's suggestion that drivers were being treated like criminals.
He observed: "He may have a point in saying it's easier to catch people speeding because the technology is there to do it... but people are doing something absolutely lethal when they're speeding.
"Speed is, even above alcohol, still the biggest killer on the roads. It's not necessarily the speeding that's the offence - it's the fact that you're going so fast that it makes you more liable to get killed or injured, and for other people to get killed or injured."
Minister Ross said the new figures on speeding fines show that people are still breaking the law in large numbers.
He suggested it's up to the new government whether they revive his proposed speeding legislation, but noted that indications are "very sadly" that they won't.
He explained: "Whenever you introduce driving legislation it's very controversial, and there's a huge amount of resistance - it doesn't matter what it is.
"There was certainly resistance within the Cabinet - there was no secret about that - to introducing stricter laws both on alcohol and speed. It was a battle and tussle to get it through.
"In this case, I'm not quite sure where the lobby came from... but there was certainly resistance... from people who tended to be from rural areas."
He stressed that it's not intended to victimise people from rural areas, and is instead simply an effort to save lives.
