Councillors look for progress on CCTV for two Longford towns

There are currently no plans for CCTV provisions in Ballymahon and Edgeworthstown despite it having been raised at County Council level many times in the last number of years.
Members of Ballymahon Municipal District passed a motion calling on the local authority to undertake an assessment as the first step in a process first mooted many years ago.

Cllr Paul Ross's notice of motion at the MD's monthly meeting called for an update on the installation of CCTV in Edgeworthstown and Ballymahon town, querying “when the expected rollout of these schemes will commence”.

Supporting the motion, Cllr Pat O'Toole said CCTV would benefit more than just the towns themselves, but also assist Garda investigations into burglaries in rural areas. Cllr Mick Cahill said the issue of provision of CCTV has been on the agenda for a long time: “There are a couple of areas that this needs to be looked at,” he stated.

The response from Martina McGrath of Longford County Council roads department, which has oversight of public CCTV, outlined the local authority's position: “In 2020 consultants were engaged by the IT department for a design proposal for Edgeworthstown CCTV. This proposal has not progressed further. CCTV has in recent months been reassigned to the roads department for operational CCTV projects or new projects.
“Given the time lapse the Edgeworthstown design proposal may need to be revisited to ensure it is adequate. This project may be revisited in 2024 if the necessary resources and budgets are made available.”

The statement to the members concluded: “With regard to the Ballymahon area, I don't believe there is any CCTV project or proposal initiated. If a new CCTV request is to be initiated for an area, policy would have to be adopted, similar to that adopted by Longford Town.”

Replying to a query by Cllr Ross on the CCTV budget Longford County Council Director of Services, Samantha Healy, explained it will not take from roads financing: “The operation and maintenance of existing CCTV has moved to the Roads Department, and the corresponding budget has moved with it. Any new requests for CCTV will be dealt with separately.

Ms Healy said a major consideration in any CCTV plan is a data protection impact assessment (DPIA), describing it as “a very cumbersome undertaking”. She said a study had to be undertaken for every piece of CCTV or any adjustment or amendment to existing CCTV cameras.
“The legislation around CCTV is very strict. It has to be determined that there is a legal basis for it,” the Director of Services said, “the onus is on ourselves, as the data receiver and owners, and we have to ensure that the legislative basis is there.”

Cllr O'Toole formally proposed that a DPIA be undertaken for Ballymahon, with Cllr Cahill backing him on the matter. The councillors also asked that the Edgeworthstown proposals be updated.
Speaking on his motion, Cllr Ross described the situation as ‘outrageous’.

“How many years are we talking about CCTV?” he asked, “This is outrageous. I thought this was sorted, the Gardaí thought it was sorted. Now we hear about this DPIA. We know people want this. It's delayed again another couple of years, it costs a lot of money and we are going nowhere fast.”
Ms Healy said the nature of the legislation for the provision of CCTV ‘doesn't permit for it to be speeded up’.

“We have to ensure that any CCTV is done within the framework of the legislation. That's not just for the local authority,” she explained.
Cllr Ross said he was “flabbergasted” by the situation: “These cameras are all over the country. What is different in Ballymahon and Edgeworthstown?”

Ms Healy told the councillors that once a business case for CCTV is set out the local authority will make an assessment to ascertain if the budget is available to progress the matter from council funds.