Garda CCTV a priority for new Tipp Chair

NEWLY elected Cathaoirleach of Tipperary County Council, Ger Darcy, has voiced the frustration of people in Roscrea, Borrisokane and Littleton at the ongoing struggle to successfully install Garda CCTV systems.

Councillor Darcy, who chose to highlight the issue as the first topic for discussion on his first day in the Cathaoirleach's chair, said the fight for Garda camera systems to help police the three areas has dragged on far too long.

The new Cathaoirleach told the monthly meeting of the local authority in Clonmel on Monday that local people and businesses had shown great engagement and worked hard to fundraise for the camera systems, but repeated roadblocks to progress has seen many become completely dissatisfied with the process.

This was echoed by Councillor Noel Coonan, who is also Chair of the Tipperary Joint Policing Committee and kept the issue of Garda CCTV systems at the front of the agenda at those meetings between top ranking Gardaí and elected representatives for several years.

"The Joint Policing Committee is caught in a dilemma", Cllr. Coonan said - "because there is a reluctance now on the part of the Council and a reluctance on the part of the Gardaí to use CCTV and who will be responsible for it.

"That is a major problem", Cllr. Coonan told the meeting, adding that he applauds the work of the local authority's Director of Services, Brian Beck, for working hard to find a financial solution to recent concerns about who will pay for the ongoing maintenance of the cameras.

Cllr. Coonan said it is almost impossible for any voluntary group to provide a guarantee that they can pay for ongoing maintenance work on a camera system used to police the streets. 

"I hope Brian Beck's proposal works, because we don't want a situation to arise similar to what happened in Limerick", Cllr. Coonan said, referencing an instance where Gardaí in Limerick defended the use of CCTV in crime detection despite a €110,000 fine issued by the Data Protection Commissioner (DPC).

Following a three-year investigation into its use of CCTV, Limerick City and County Council were fined by the DPC last year for a breach of the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) in 50 separate instances.

The investigation examined the legal basis for the installation of more than 250 cameras in Limerick and the associated data protection concerns they raised. The DPC found that, in multiple instances, there was no legal basis or Garda authorisation for the installation of cameras.

Monday's meeting in Clonmel heard that the latest update on the camera systems is that the office of the Deputy Commissioner in charge of Policing and Security, Anne Marie McMahon, has requested some clarifications on the camera systems for Littleton and Borrisokane. That information has been forwarded to them and the local authority is waiting for a response.

Roscrea's Garda CCTV system faced several challenges unique to the installation of a camera system in a heritage town, where planning permission was required for some camera locations. 

Deciding on the financial feasibility between differing types of recording equipment also presented some hurdles in Roscrea, with cloud storage vs physical recording equipment requiring different installation and ongoing maintenance costs.