Council rules out CCTV in areas of Limerick

LIMERICK City and County Council has ruled out installing closed-circuit television (CCTV) in two suburban areas for the time being.

At this month's metropolitan district meeting, Labour councillor Elena Secas asked the local authority provide CCTV cameras for both the Castletroy Greenway and the bottle bank at the Plassey Credit Union, "to tackle and prevent anti-social behaviour and illegal dumping."

But in a written response, council officials said there are currently no arrangements being made for further CCTV cameras on the authority's behalf.

"No additional installations are being considered at this time pending a review of policy," the reply confirmed, "In the event any additional infrastructure is to be considered, there will be procedures in CCTV policy which will need to be followed."

But Cllr Secas queried this, saying: "As we speak, there are cameras being installed in Corbally. There are some safety and security concerns around the greenway access point. Those concerns would have been raised by local residents groups and a commitment was given these concerns would be duly considered. My understanding is they were being considered, as the CCTV has been put in place as part of the project. Who and why decided not to install and connect the CCTV cameras as the project was delivered?"

Her follow-up question went unanswered by officials at the metropolitan meeting.

Fine Gael councillor Sarah Kiely said: "Dumping is becoming a massive issue. It's constant. members of the council come daily to remove bags of rubbish. We are more or less telling people CCTV is not in operation, so we are giving them carte blanche to dump at these locations as a lot of the time they are in secluded areas. It's leading to massive bills for the removal of such rubbish."

District leader Cllr Catherine Slattery said eight bags of rubbish had been dumped in the middle of a main road near Rosmor.

Labour councillor Conor Sheehan formally seconded his colleague's motion, saying he is "very disappointed, but not surprised" at the local authority's reply.