I am informed by the Garda authorities that the Garda CCTV advisory committee — established by the Garda Commissioner to advise on all matters relating to CCTV systems — has not received an application from Ballina Town Council for the installation of a Garda CCTV system. However, the advisory committee has received an application for a Garda CCTV system in Ballina from the chief superintendent, Mayo division. This application is being considered along with applications from other cities and towns throughout the country.
Garda CCTV systems, as aids to policing, have been introduced, to date in the following areas: Bray, Dublin city — south central, Dublin city — north central, Dundalk, Dún Laoghaire, Cork city, Limerick city and Tralee. A total of €4.881 million, including VAT, has been expended since 1997 on the supply, installation and commissioning of the above systems. In addition to the above, the following 13 locations throughout the country are set to receive town centre CCTV systems, on a phased basis, subject to the availability of funds: Athlone, Ballyfermot, Carlow, Castlebar, Clondalkin, Clonmel, Ennis, Finglas, Galway, Kilkenny, Sligo, Tallaght and Waterford.
Installation of the CCTV systems is of necessity a detailed, complex and lengthy process. The Garda authorities are giving careful consideration to a restructuring of the manner in which these Garda CCTV systems go to tender, with a view to delivering the implementation of these CCTV systems in a faster, more efficient and cost effective manner.
On the query about the success of CCTV systems, I am informed by the Garda authorities that the Garda research unit carried out an internal evaluation of the CCTV systems in Dublin and Tralee in 1999. While the evaluation identified potential benefits of CCTV — such as reduced crime and disorder, increased detections, improved public feelings of safety, more effective deployment of police resources and improved court processing, guilty pleas — the evidence of that particular evaluation was not fully conclusive. This was mainly due to methodological difficulties, such as data limitations and a difficulty in isolating CCTV effects from other influences.
The Garda research unit is currently evaluating the effects of CCTV in three locations: Dún Laoghaire, Dundalk and Galway/Salthill. The main focus of this evaluation is on crime and detection levels before and after camera installation. Crime and detection levels are also being examined in Blackrock, County Dublin, and in Drogheda — neither of which have Garda CCTV systems — to assess general trends and possible crime displacement. Research findings will not be available for some time, as the evaluation involves the comparison of data for the 12 month periods before and after camera installation.
I am further informed that two other projects are currently underway. The Garda annual policing plan 2004 has committed the research unit to carrying out a review of the cost and benefit of extending CCTV systems to all areas with a population in excess of 7,000. In addition, the Garda annual policing plan 2003 provided for the assessment of the proactive use of CCTV systems as a means of gathering criminal intelligence. It is anticipated that both projects will be completed later this year.
