COMHAIRLE CONTAE ÁTHA CLIATH THEAS
SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY COUNCIL

 

MEETING OF RATHFARNHAM / TEMPLEOGUE / FIRHOUSE / BOHERNABREENA AREA COMMITTEE

Tuesday, May 10, 2022

MOTION NO. 6

MOTION: Councillor Yvonne Collins

Given the recent antisocial behaviour and damage done to equipment at the woodland playground in Rathfarnham Castle Park, that the Chief Executive considers installing CCTV at a strategic location or location to be determined.

REPORT:

The fire which was started maliciously in Rathfarnham Castle Park in recent weeks caused damage to materials which were being stored on site and were intended for use in the upgrade of the woodland playground.  There has been only one such incident of this nature and it would therefore seem to be premature at this time to consider the installation of a cctv system there to protect the new equipment. 

The process to examine and consider this proposal for cctv would include the preparation of a Data Protection Impact Assessment (DPIA) for the proposed system.  The proposal to install cctv at this location would obviously involve the capturing of images of children using the playground, it is expected that it would be considered both inappropriate and excessive to capture images of children in the course of protecting the play equipment.

A number of other issues should also be considered in relation to this matter.  The location is under the cover of trees which at night time make the location quite dark.  This would present a problem in relation to the type and specification of the cameras required to overcome this issue.  The nature of the location is also likely to make it easy for anyone in the area to stay out of sight of the cameras by stepping behind the trees for example.  These issues raise a question about how effective such a system would be in protecting the playground.