COMHAIRLE CONTAE ÁTHA CLIATH THEAS
SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY COUNCIL

MEETING OF SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY COUNCIL

Monday, July 12, 2021

QUESTION NO.27

QUESTION: Councillor Joanna Tuffy

To ask for an report on the installation of CCTV by Parks that includes information about the current provision of CCTV in Parks, its use to deter anti-social behaviour in parks and the legislation around that, the process that is used to decide to install CCTV in a park, and whether the Council is in a position to consider requests for CCTV in Parks at the moment.

REPLY:

South Dublin County Council has recently been audited by the Data Protection Commissioner regarding CCTV. It was identified during the audit process that CCTV cameras for the monitoring or policing of Anti Social Behaviour need to be authorised by the Garda Commissioner as required under under Section 38(3)(c) of the Garda Síochána Act, 2005.

Once a budget is identified, requests for the installation of new CCTV cameras can be assessed and approved by the South Dublin County Council Joint Policing Committee as being part of the Community Based CCTV scheme. The JPC can then formally seek authorisation from the Garda Commissioner under Section 38(3)(c) of the Act.

There will be measures included in the upcoming Circular Economy Bill relating to CCTV, however those measures relate to the use of CCTV in tackling the issue of illegal dumping. A data protection impact assessment (DPIA) would need to be prepared for each location where CCTV is installed for this purpose and footage from such cameras could only be used for the purpose identified in the DPIA.