Plans to use video surveillance in court

JUSTICE Minister Brian Lenihan is planning to introduce legislation which will allow video surveillance of criminals to be used as evidence in court, bringing the battle against crime barons into the 21st century.

The minister, who made the announcement last night at the annual Garda Representative Association (GRA) conference in Co Carlow, said he is also preparing to roll out a multi-million euro encrypted radio system for gardaí, which would prevent gangland bosses from eavesdropping on the force’s current archaic analogue communications systems.

He said his officials in the Department of Justice were working on drafting the surveillance tape legislation and hoped to have it ready to go before the Dáil before the end of the year.