Chinese-made security cameras should be removed from Dáil, says Green TD

Patrick Costello says Ireland needs to follow the lead of other countries

Green Party TD Patrick Costello has said that Ireland needs to follow the lead of other countries and stop using Hikvision security cameras in Leinster House.

Green Party TD Patrick Costello has said that Ireland needs to follow the lead of other countries and stop using Hikvision security cameras in Leinster House.

The cameras, which are manufactured in China, have already been linked to security risks in Britain, and the United States and Australia has banned from use in government buildings, Mr Costello told RTÉ Morning Ireland.

When asked if the cameras were in sensitive areas in Leinster House, such as the rooms in which party meetings take place, he said they were used inside and outside and were “quite visible" in lots of corridors.

"I don't know if they're in party rooms, but certainly they're broadly used, are widely used as they are in the country, but they're widely used throughout the Leinster House complex," he said.

Mr Costello said he thought the Hikvision cameras had been removed in the UK, the US, Denmark, and Australia because of concerns around security leaks.

"I think we need to look at this in the context of the Government making a decision that mobile phones will no longer be allowed into cabinet meetings because of security concerns. So all these things are very real."

Green Party TD Patrick Costello said the links between Hikvision and the Chinese State were part of the reason for his call.

Because it was specifically Hikvision cameras that had been linked to security risks by those countries Mr Costello said he was asking for a review of the security around these cameras. 

The links between Hikvision and the Chinese State were part of the reason for his call, he said.

"It's the link to the Chinese state and the link to the Chinese military. 

As I say, these three countries have banned them for good reason. And we need to at the very least be asking why are they buying them? What are they not telling us? What did they know that we don't? 

"It's not just about Ireland. Ireland is a member of the European Union. This is about spying in the European Union as a whole.”

In a response to a statement from Hikvision which said that Hikvision cameras are compliant with the applicable Irish laws and regulations and are subject to strict security requirements, Mr Costello said that GDPR regulations needed to be effective and well implemented and he did not believe that was the case.

“I think the Data Protection Commission has to pull up their socks there because that is a shield for the citizen against an unwarranted intrusion.

"We have three countries who know a thing or two about spying, who are claiming there are security issues here. This is something we need to look at, regardless of what is said. This is something that we need to assess for ourselves.”