speeding fine, 68 in 60km zone within 100m of speed change sign

OP should phone the number on the notice and state they wish to appeal. Errors can be made with signs, bye laws, etc. and the only way to know is to confirm all was correct is from those who issue the notice.
 

The distance of the van from the sign is irrelevant as the sign indicates the point at which the speed limit changes. So they could be parked on top of the sign if they wished.

Your only real hope of appeal as others have said is in the courts. You would have no grounds arguing the position of the van as being unreasonable however. Your only very slim chance would be to identify the very first point at which the 60Km/hr sign is visible to a driver, measure that distance to the location of the sign and with the assistance of a copy of NRA standards, European Standards and hiring an independent roads engineer look at whether or not that is a reasonable distance to safely reduce speed from 80 to 60 on first seeing the sign.

You never know, you may well be right and onto a winner with that argument. However, you will not win any appeal at all based upon where the van was parked once it is passed the sign.
 
OP should phone the number on the notice and state they wish to appeal. Errors can be made with signs, bye laws, etc. and the only way to know is to confirm all was correct is from those who issue the notice.

They are hardly going to admit anything wrong. Some people are very naive. I used to issue 100's of "Your appeal has been unsuccessful if you feel aggrieved go to court" letters each week. It was absolutely routine procedure to deny anything wrong.

The only way of knowing is go look at the Bye Laws yourself.
 
I am not very naive at all! I know that if someone rings the number in Thurles, they will be directed to contact the Supt. at the issuing station to make their appeal. There every single appeal should be viewed by the senior officer and if any grounds are evident that the notice may be incorrect and fail in court, it will be terminated. If where Time worked routinely issued routine letters to the taxpayers who finance An Garda Siochana, without checking the issues raised, that is an absolute disgrace.
 

I think that the judge may well ask you

Mr SomGreat, may I ask if that was the first time you were on this particular road?
 
Pay the fine. It's not worth the fight, even if you did win.
 
As you can't get costs out of the Gardaí it is only worth fighting on principle.