"Frustrated and fed up" Roscrea and Borrisokane wait for Garda CCTV systems

The rollercoaster of delays and complicated legislation which has overshadowed the hard work of volunteers to bring Garda CCTV systems to Roscrea and Borrisokane has resulted in the communities becoming disillusioned with the whole process, elected representatives are warning.

After a very successful fundraising campaign from local businesses and community groups and a series of surveys to establish how the systems should be installed and what is required, it appears the installation of the camera systems to assist Gardaí police the streets have been set back once again at the eleventh hour, as new complications in government policy about their use have arisen.

The exasperation of people in Roscrea and Borrisokane was expressed at the meeting of the Tipperary Joint Policing Committee (JPC) last week, where local representatives said people have become "fed up after doing all the work" and warned that belief the camera systems might ever be up and running is waning.

"People are starting to lose confidence in it now - the volunteers who did all the work are only interested in the good of their community and they really need to see some light at the end of the tunnel on this. They're very upset about the whole thing", Cllr. Ger Darcy told the meeting.

"This delay is causing huge concern - the communities bent over backwards to assist the installation of these cameras and it can't go on like this any longer", JPC Cathaoirleach, Cllr. Noel Coonan said.

"It is bureaucracy gone out of control", Cllr. Coonan said, warning that if tangible progress isn't made soon he fears the entire community effort may have been in vain.

Pat Slattery, Director of Services for Tipperary County Council, said he understands the frustration, but stressed the work is continuing and that all the relevant updates to the submissions for the camera systems are almost complete.

The genesis of the recent issues relating to the legislation dictating how and what the footage from the cameras is used for, stems from a camera system which was operational without official sanction in County Limerick and resulted in a €100,000 fine for failing to operate within the legal criteria.

Limerick County Council was found to be in breach of the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) in 50 separate instances, where more than 250 cameras with no lawful basis were operational for over 15 and that there was no legal basis or Garda authorisation for the installation of cameras.

It was determined Limerick Council had no lawful basis for the processing of personal data for traffic management purposes, and that it had infringed the GDPR by refusing subject access requests regarding personal data and that Limerick Council had breached GDPR laws by failing to make its CCTV policy more easily accessible and transparent.

Mr. Slattery explained to the meeting that this recent development in Limerick has again changed the landscape on what is required to achieve the green light for cameras to start working in Tipperary.

In Roscrea, Mr. Slattery explained, the installation of a signal repeater box on St. Cronan's Church, which is a protected structure, had caused some planning delays and the equipment was such an integral part of the Roscrea camera system that if the planning issue is not resolved, the entire Roscrea camera system would need to be redesigned.

"The Roscrea group need to engage with us again - we're finding they've gone a bit cold and that's not a reflection on the Chair because I know you have been pushing that group very strongly - but the Roscrea group need to re-engage strongly with us, to ensure they have bought into it just like the Borrisokane group have", Mr. Slattery said.

Cathaoirleach Noel Coonan closed the update by pleading for Tipperary's Oireachtas members to "take control of this issue at a government level".

"The only people benefiting from this current situation are the criminals", the Cathaoirleach said.