Malahide antisocial behaviour and CCTV
Deputy O'Reilly raised a spike in antisocial behaviour in Malahide and questioned delayed promises on community CCTV. The Tánaiste said Garda visibility is being increased and that CCTV progress is being worked through because of data-protection and data-controller issues.
In recent days I have been contacted by large numbers of Malahide residents. They are very concerned about a sudden spike in antisocial behaviour in the village and surrounding areas.
This happened before, and a very increased and visible Garda presence really helped in the resolution of it.
I draw the Tánaiste's attention to two tweets from the Minister with responsibility for housing on 10 and 26 May last year. On 10 May he said there would be an announcement in the coming weeks regarding community CCTV for Malahide and Swords. Sixteen days later he said he was, "Delighted [delighted no less] to report that CCTV has been approved for Malahide Village and Swords Town and will be installed by the June Bank Holiday Weekend." There is no CCTV in either Swords or Malahide at the moment. The programme for Government commits the Government to "Externally review the legal and organisational framework governing community CCTV". Will the Tánaiste advise us about the subject of the Minister's tweets? Are we going to see the CCTV pilot in Malahide and Swords and are we going to see a manifestation of the commitment in the programme for Government that will "Prioritise visible policing in both rural and urban communities".
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I thank the Deputy. We are doing that. There are more members of An Garda Síochána than was ever the case before. A very significant recruitment campaign is under way, having been launched by the Minister for Justice, Deputy McEntee, only a few days ago. That will help us to continue to increase the visibility of policing in urban and rural areas, especially when it comes to community gardaí.
On CCTV, we have a problem and we are working through the issue at the moment. It is all around data protection. You can have CCTV. There is lots of it and we need more of it but somebody must agree to be the data controller. It is not good enough for public bodies to say they want CCTV-----
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Or indeed to announce we have it when we do not.
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-----but then not to want any of the responsibility around being a data controller, because this is video footage and it can be misused.
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Perhaps the Minister with responsibility for housing could volunteer to be the data controller.