EXCLUSIVE: CCTV in Limerick town was not working on night of violence

A STATE-OF-THE-ART camera erected as part of a €500,000 Smart CCTV system was down during a night of violence in a County Limerick town, the Leader can reveal.

Gardai are understood to be “furious” after they requested CCTV footage from Kilmallock on Sunday, September 12 only to be told it wasn’t available. Cllr Mike Donegan described it as “embarrassing”.

On that Sunday evening the town was under siege after a falling out between two well-known families in the locality. Windows of one house were smashed in; groups of people were seen marauding down a street with hurleys; and there were clashes between rival groups at a number of locations.

Councillors voice concerns over fallout from violence in Limerick town

The 360 degree Smart camera positioned at the cross of Lord Edward Street and Wolfe Tone Street would have captured incidents in high resolution – if it was working.

The camera in Kilmallock is part of the €500,000 Smart CCTV project rolled out across 14 Limerick towns and villages in 2018 by Limerick City and County Council.

Cllr Mike Donegan raised the matter with the council after speaking to a member of An Garda Síochána.

“The garda told me when they went to get CCTV footage from the main camera in the town they said it ‘wasn’t available’. Following enquiries with council staff they confirmed to me the Smart CCTV at the Cross in Kilmallock was down.

“The disappointing part is these are the Smart cameras that were installed with the latest technology. They were expensive but we paid the extra money because we wanted state-of-the-art 360 degree panoramic views with number plate recognition,” said Cllr Donegan, who is an IT technician.

“There is no point having state-of-the-art cameras when they are not working. For one of those to be down is totally unacceptable,” he added.

Cllr Donegan said he has learned that it is only when somebody requests CCTV footage from a particular day and staff go looking for it that they realise whether the “camera is working or not”. The Kilmallock councillor also expressed his concerns over the Smart CCTV cameras in the other 13 towns and villages.

“A monitoring system should be put in place to ensure the cameras are operational at all times to ensure this doesn't happen again. My monitoring system tells me everyday whether systems are up or not,” said Cllr Donegan, who has raised concerns over the Smart CCTV cameras at a number of municipal Joint Policing Committee meetings.

“They have been and will continue to be of great assistance to An Garda Siochana because they depend on these cameras. We can help the gardai by ensuring our CCTV system is fully functional and up and running. When it is not it becomes very embarrassing,” he said.

Following a media query by the Leader, a council spokesperson confirmed the camera in Kilmallock “went offline due to a power surge following water ingress into the microwave signal repeaters”.

It is expected that this camera will be back online shortly.

"The council is bringing in maintenance monitoring software over the coming weeks that will tell us whether cameras are working or not. This will be phased in over a number of weeks / months until we have all hinterland cameras up and running on this software,” said the council spokesperson.

Cllr Donegan queried how water could get into a camera designed for outdoors and especially after such a largely dry couple of months.

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