Council 'ready to go' with CCTV

Westmeath County Council is “ready to go” with CCTV for the purposes of detecting and preventing illegal dumping, as soon as new legislation is signed into law.

This was the response given to Cllr John Dolan at the April meeting of Athlone Moate Municipal District last week by District Manager, Jackie Finney, when he raised the issue.

“We are ready to go as soon as the new law is enacted,” said Ms Finney, who added that a service provider “has been identified” and the council is all set to use CCTV for the purposes of detecting and preventing illegal dumping and littering.

The Bill which enables local authorities to use CCTV for the purposes of detecting and preventing illegal dumping – The Circular Economy, Waste Management (Amendment) and Minerals Development (Amendment) Bill 2022, was recently approved by cabinet and has been passed to the Select Committee on Environment & Climate Action.

In their written response to Cllr Dolan’s question, the local authority said “once the Bill has passed through all stages of the legislative process and is signed into law Local Authorities will have a legal basis for the use of CCTV for the purpose as outlined above.”