Concerns CCTV in Cork towns will need costly upgrades

There are 22 CCTV systems set up in the county, but only 15 are operational. Picture Denis Minihane

Community CCTV technology may have become outdated in a number of Co Cork towns because of the delay in deciding who views footage from them.

Some systems in place for several years have not yet become operational as no decision has been made on who will be the data controllers.

Concerns have also been raised that it will be very costly for local authorities if they are appointed data controllers and it has been suggested that Cork County Council, Cork City Council and Kerry County Council should club together to provide one central monitoring unit for their regions.

However, hooking up systems in these areas to just one viewing centre could be extremely expensive.

Sinn Féin councillor Danielle Twomey asked Cork County Council officials to seek an update on the pending data controller policy being decided by the Local Government Management Agency (LGMA).

Ms Twomey told the Irish Examiner there are 22 CCTV systems set up in the county, but only 15 are operational.

Charleville, Mitchelstown and Midleton, for example, are not turned on. The money has also been ringfenced for others to go live, but this hasn’t happened." 

“We were told at a Cork County JPC [Joint Policing Committee] meeting last year that a decision on data controllers was only a few weeks away. But we’ve heard nothing since. As crime statistics start to rise again [after the axing of Covid travel restrictions] we need to progress the CCTV to keep our constituents safe," Ms Twomey said.

'Criminal incidents'

Fine Gael councillor Susan McCarthy, who runs a newsagents in Midleton, said they had "two criminal incidents in the shop", but one could not be prosecuted because of lack of CCTV coverage outside the door on the town’s Main Street.

Fianna Fáil councillor Frank O’Flynn pointed out that as far back as 2017 and 2018, the council paid for the installation of new CCTV in Mitchelstown and a widening of coverage in Fermoy. This has not happened because the issue of who would be data controller had emerged.

He said he was concerned the technology was now outdated and would need a potentially costly upgrade.

Mr O’Flynn suggested this should be subsidised by the Department of Justice, rather than cash-strapped local authorities.

He said if the data controller responsibility fell to councils that his council, Cork City, and Kerry County Council should club together to provide one central monitoring location.

Cork County Council’s assistant chief executive James Fogarty, who once headed the council’s IT department, suggested hooking up everything to a central viewing location could be very costly.

Fine Gael councillor John Paul O’Shea said the council had to await a decision on who would be data controller, pointing out that Limerick City and County Council was “fined severely” recently for a breach in data control viewing.

Both he and Mr O’Flynn suggested the council write to the Department of Justice as a matter of urgency to find out when a decision on data control issues was likely to be reached.

Patricia Liddy, the council’s director of corporate services, said last month they were informed by the LGMA there were no further updates to the pending bill relating to the proposed legislative model for community CCTV.

“I confirm that Cork County Council is awaiting the approval of this bill before considering the implementation of additional community CCTV schemes, and that funding mechanisms are contiguous with the passing of same,” Ms Liddy said.