Red tape delaying Tipperary CCTV schemes slammed as "disgusting" and "deplorable" at Joint Policing Committee meeting

Growing frustration at the bureaucratic red tape involved in getting CCTV cameras up and running in Tipperary towns was vented at the county’s latest Joint Policing Committee meeting when its Chairman bluntly warned that criminals were the only people benefitting from the delays.
The warning came from Cllr Noel Coonan, who slammed the bureaucratic quagmire that has stalled community CCTV schemes around the county as “crazy”, “disgusting and deplorable” and declared it was about time it was sorted out.
The Joint Policing Committee’s members resolved to invite representatives from the garda Community Engagement Office in Dublin to its next meeting to give them an opportunity to highlight their frustrations and concerns over the difficulties in getting CCTV schemes operational in the county.
The proposal to issue this invitation came from Clonmel’s Cllr Richie Molloy after he sought an update from Tipperary Garda Division Chief Supt Derek Smart about when CCTV cameras will be operational on the Heywood Road and near Clonmel Rugby Club in his hometown.
The Independent councillor said a number of constituents had contacted him about the cameras, which they were waiting on for a long time in that area and would act as a big deterrent to crime.
Cllr Siobhán Ambrose said the provision of these CCTV cameras was going on a number of years.
The council had sent back additional information several times to the gardaí when requested and it just seemed to be a never ending story.
“I think it would be a good idea to invite this Community Engagement Officer down. We seem to be going around in circles...any time we think we are there, we seem to have a set back again.”
It was Chief Supt Smart, who first suggested it would be appropriate for the Joint Policing Committee to invite the garda Community Engagement Officer to hear their views.
Responding to Cllr Molloy, he explained a new issue has arisen with the roll out of CCTV schemes arising out of Limerick County Council recently being fined by the Data Protection Commissioner for breaching an EU Data Protection Regulation in relation to the use of CCTV cameras across county Limerick. He said this case had changed the way An Garda Síochána’s National Office looked at the issue but he assured the JPC members that gardaí locally very much supported the roll out of CCTV.
Cllr Molloy said when people heard GDPR and data protection it “infuriated” them because it meant everything got “bogged down”.
Tipperary County Council Administrative Officer Eddie Meegan gave a detailed account to JPC members of the latest administrative work he has been doing to ensure proposed CCTV schemes in the county comply with data protection regulations and get final approval.
He said the €110,000 fine the Data Protection Commissioner imposed on Limerick County Council has caused a lot of nervousness around the country.
The council’s Economic & Community Development Director Pat Slattery echoed councillors’ exasperation.
He said something always changed in the process, the most recent being the fine imposed on Limerick County Council.
“Eddie has the paperwork ready and hopefully we are in a position to submit them but it’s a frustrating process,” he said.
He said GDPR shouldn’t stop CCTV schemes but it seemed to put controls in their way that continues to slow the projects down.
Chief Supt Smart pointed out that if CCTV schemes weren’t properly “signed off” it could lead to CCTV footage being challenged in court cases. “The last thing we want to do is lose crucial criminal evidence.”
He also noted that CCTV cameras were switched off in Limerick where they were found not to be in compliance with data protection regulations.
“That is not what we want,” he stressed.