LIMERICK City and County Council’s hands are tied when it comes to installing CCTV cameras in public spaces, councillors were told this week.
Labour Party councillor Elena Secas had a motion before this Wednesday’s monthly meeting of the Metropolitan District calling for greater CCTV surveillance in areas of Limerick City East.
Cllr Secas urged the local authority to engage with the Data Protection Commission and An Garda Síochána to explore the feasibility of installing CCTV cameras at the new playground at Castletroy, Boro Park in Janesboro and the Plassey Credit Union Bottle Bank in Castletroy.
According to Cllr Secas, people do not feel safe in Castletroy Playground during the day because of antisocial behaviour and some have stopped using the park altogether.
“Bottles and rubbish are being dumped on the ground at the bottle bank in Castletroy and Limerick City and Council’s Environmental Section have to come along and clean it up. The installation of CCTV cameras would help tackle this issue,” she said.
Seconding her motion, Fine Gael councillor Sarah Kiely claimed that people are coming in from County Limerick just to dump their rubbish at the bottle bank on the Roxboro Road.
“Evidence was found in a bag of rubbish with an address in the county. These people are dragging our city down. Year after year this is evident from the results of the IBAL Litter Survey.
“CCTV cameras would definitely aid detection,” Cllr Kiely insisted.
Head of Digital Strategy at Limerick City and County Council Alan Dooley informed councillors that there has to be a significant amount of crime at a site with supporting statistics to warrant CCTV cameras.
“We have to look at alternative measures and not jump straight to CCTV cameras. Playgrounds can be a difficult place because you are dealing with children, so there’s a lot to figure out. Our hands are mostly tied when it comes CCTV,” Mr Dooley explained.
