Vol. 523 No. 5
261 Mr. Noonan asked the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform the plans he has to install a closed circuit television monitoring system in Limerick city; if William Street is included in the proposals; the proposed time table for installation; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [21603/00]
Limerick is one of six locations that have been prioritised for the installation of Garda CCTV systems as an aid to policing by the CCTV Advisory Committee that was established by the Garda Commissioner to examine CCTV applications. The other locations, in alphabetical order, are Bray, Cork, Dublin south central, Dundalk and Finglas.
The extension of the Garda CCTV system in Dublin south central, to include Grafton Street and its surrounding areas and the installation of a CCTV system in Cork city are the CCTV projects currently being undertaken. The order in which the remaining priority locations, including Limerick, will be undertaken has not yet been decided.
I can, however, confirm that it is intended to commence the installation of Garda CCTV systems in each of the prioritised locations as soon as possible but I am unable at this stage to give a definitive timescale in this regard.
I understand from the Garda authorities that it is their intention to include a camera for William Street as part of the CCTV proposals for the city.
Some delays have been encountered in progressing various CCTV projects due, in part, to the fact that the demand from various communities for CCTV systems has been very significant. A shortage of technicians in the telecommunications section of the Garda Síochána has also impacted on the progress in implementing CCTV systems. Notwithstanding this, it also became evident that the existing approach to CCTV could not cope with the demand and a review of all aspects of CCTV was required. I therefore decided to initiate a review of CCTV and asked the Garda Commissioner to look at this whole area. The review is now complete and I expect to make a statement on CCTV in the near future.
