Duncan ‘teed off’ over delay in approving CCTV for Springfield

A call for CCTV to be installed at Springfield Tunnel has been renewed by Cllr Andrew Duncan, who said he was becoming increasingly frustrated at the lack of action over anti-social behaviour at the location.

Cllr Duncan raised the issue at the September meeting of the Municipal District of Mullingar-Kinnegad, arguing that CCTV could help prevent the area from becoming a trouble spot.

However, the district said the installation of CCTV was currently complicated by a new regime governing the authorisation and operation of CCTV schemes.

The new regime comes under Part 5 of The Garda Síochána Recording Devices) Act 2023. The council response said the Act requires the Garda Commissioner to develop a Code of Practice for CCTV setting out the procedures to be followed.

A public consultation on the new Code of Practice was open until September 14.

Director of services Deirdre Reilly said she understood that the code was required to ensure that material captured by CCTV complied with GDPR legislation.

“Previous to this, many years ago, the guards had their own network. They put up their own CCTV and a move is being made now that local authorities are asked to install CCTV for the guards’ use,” Ms Reilly stated.

She said the requirement was currently being considered by the local community safety partnership (LCSP).

Ms Reilly added that gardaí are “well aware” of the anti-social behaviour at Springfield Tunnel and would be supportive of CCTV once the legislative requirements are met.

Cllr Duncan expressed exasperation at the continuing delays.

“That means that no CCTV can go in anywhere then,” he remarked, asking whether the council had any input into the timeframe for making the installation of CCTV possible.

“The way Ireland works bureaucracy-wise, we’re probably talking two years before this nonsense gets sorted out. How can we speed this stuff up?” he said.

He said he had now raised the issue four times.

“I get so frustrated with this c**p. It’s beyond belief, the amount of bureaucracy to just put up a couple of bloomin’ cameras. This is the fourth time I’ve brought it up. This is the fourth different reason I’ve been given that it hasn’t been done. Excuse me if I get a little bit teed off, but I am. This is a genuine concern.”

Supported by the Local Democracy Reporting Scheme