McDowell announces expansion of CCTV town scheme

The Tánaiste and Minister for Justice Michael McDowell today announced a major expansion of the Garda CCTV town centre scheme.

A total of 17 locations are included. Contracts for Ballyfermot, Clondalkin and Tullamore, have already been signed by the Garda authorities and implementation of these systems is now underway.

Today's announcement means that the Garda authorities will seek requests for tender for the installation of a further fourteen CCTV systems in the following locations: Athlone, Carlow, Castlebar, Clonmel, Drogheda, Dungarvan, Ennis, Kilkenny, Kinsale, Mullingar, Portlaoise, Sligo, Tallaght and Waterford.

Tenders are expected to issue by the end of this month and work on the installation of CCTV in these areas will be undertaken immediately on selection of a preferred contractor, or contractors.

The Tánaiste and the Garda Commissioner both agree that it is important to harness modern technology to keep our streets and citizens safe and over €7.5m has been provided in the Garda Vote for 2007 for these projects.

The Tánaiste said: “The implementation of Garda CCTV systems as well as the Community CCTV systems will provide a strong deterrent to crime and a powerful investigative tool for An Garda Síochána in the fight against crime”.