Mr. Karl Heller:

We have 91 CCTV schemes throughout the country. We see this as a growing area. Certainly, I agree with the comments made so far. We have seen schemes develop throughout the country in the south, the west and, in recent times, in the midlands. In 2015 we had 13 applications and in 2016 we had 14 applications.

I will set out the position briefly for Deputy Healy-Rae. The local chief superintendent is required to set up a project group. That group comprises the local garda and members of the local community. The project requires agreement from the local joint policing committee and the local authority, as well as agreement generally from local people within the community.

Invariably, we find that most in the local community are in favour of the scheme. Then, the proposal transfers to my office and to a committee I chair on behalf of the Commissioner. We consider the application. It has to comply with various criteria, such as data protection requirements and so on. We look at technical issues, including the technical specification of the cameras etc. Deputy Ó Cuív referred to locations. Along with representatives of the community, we go on site carefully with crime prevention officers throughout the country. We look for strategic locations to place cameras. It enthuses me greatly is to see how communities have reached the goal of putting in place CCTV. They have done this by funding these schemes themselves. Essentially, there has been no funding for CCTV schemes during the past seven years. We find that local authorities, Tidy Towns committees, community alert schemes and so on tend to fund CCTV schemes. They overcome technical issues such as broadband and so on as well. They go to great lengths. I am very enthused by the level of interest in CCTV. Certainly, we see it as a growing area, along with text alert, which is growing at a phenomenal rate. Over 400,000 people are in receipt of text messages on a monthly basis. Until recent weeks, this area has been primarily funded by the community. We see these two initiatives as successful.

A point was made about local issues. The CCTV and community text alert initiatives feed in to our community alert and neighbourhood watch system. Our neighbourhood watch system reaches over 500,000 people, as the assistant commissioner has said. Deputy Ó Cuív made an important point in this regard. This feeds in to local issues, including fear of crime and issues around notifying us of particular crimes that may be occurring in an area. As the Commissioner has said, our superintendents meet community alert schemes in the autumn. Then, in the spring our chiefs meet community alert and neighbourhood watch schemes in a rural context. The idea is to feed back information from the community with a view to developing policing plans locally and to respond appropriately. The chief superintendent can then examine the matter in the spring and see what has worked and what has not worked.

Since we are discussing what has and what has not worked, I note that a common theme has come from the Deputies across the table on local issues. The common theme is engagement and how we engage with people. We need to continuously pursue ways of enhancing how we engage. With that in mind, the Commissioner has given approval to a review of the current community policing model. We see engagement as one of the key pillars. As we see it, there are three pillars: crime prevention, engagement and law enforcement. I am very much in agreement with the Deputies. We must continue to find ways to enhance engagement and that is what we are trying to do. I emphasise the point that we are doing it with significant support from the community and, as someone has said already, the effort is undertaken on a voluntary basis.