Fergus O'Dowd (Louth, Fine Gael)

I thank the Ceann Comhairle for selecting this matter and welcome the Minister of State. Drogheda is now the largest town in Ireland, growing in population to outstrip any other town, including Dundalk. More than 31,000 people live in the town, but it has the same number of gardaí— 90 — as five years ago despite the significant increase in population. Similar to other town centres around the country, there are serious problems with anti-social behaviour late at night.

It is essential that Drogheda is added to the list of towns in receipt of CCTV cameras. There are 17 towns on the waiting list and I wish them all well, but Drogheda is not one of them. It demonstrates the political neglect of this administration, particularly Fianna Fáil, with regard to Drogheda by refusing to install CCTV cameras in the country's largest town.

The issue also relates to the sister town of Dundalk. Its superintendent was last week pictured in The Argus and the Dundalk Democrat in front of a fine array of approximately 20 screens. He spoke convincingly and clearly about the benefit of CCTV cameras in Dundalk, and we welcome that. He is now in a position to declare that he wants to extend their use and I support him in that regard. Drogheda has absolutely nothing.

This is an issue of immediacy and we cannot afford to wait until 2007. In a written response earlier this week, I was told by the Minister that the application currently on hand with the advisory committee will be finalised towards the end of 2006. This means that Drogheda cannot be considered or included in the list until 2007, which is totally unacceptable. We insist that the Government acts now and that the Minister fast-tracks Drogheda's application on the simple grounds that it is the largest town in Ireland and needs these cameras now.

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