Conor Sheehan (Limerick City, Labour)

I thank the Minister of State for taking this Topical Issue. There is a comprehensive network of CCTV cameras in Limerick. It was established as a direct response to a number of public order challenges in the city. The CCTV is a key pillar in the Limerick regeneration framework implementation plan, LRFIP, which followed on from the Fitzgerald report. This was the flagship Government programme to deal with the significant issues that existed, and still exist, in Limerick's regeneration communities. In essence, it was devised as a consequence of the Fitzgerald report, which was commissioned after some depraved individual burnt out a car with two children in the back of it in Moyross in 2006.

Limerick city's CCTV system is one of the very good and positive outcomes we have had from regeneration. It is one of the best in the country. The framework and governance are widely acknowledged to be quite good. It was funded by the Department of housing, which gave €880,000 in 2024 for regeneration area CCTV. We acknowledge and accept that regeneration is being wound up. In 2024, Limerick City and County Council made a formal approach to the Department of justice to seek replacement funding, but no allocation was secured. In 2025, Limerick City and County Council and An Garda Síochána submitted a joint business case via the Garda Commissioner for inclusion in budget 2026. To date, no replacement funding has been approved.

Due to the ongoing uncertainty, the company that runs the CCTV has now issued its staff with protective notice. The implications of this are really grave for us in Limerick. I cannot overstate how revolutionary the network of CCTV cameras has been in policing terms. We have a 70% prosecution rate for a couple of thousand serious incidents and a very high rate of guilty pleas and convictions. I am very worried that we have had several serious incidents in Limerick in the past year alone. I am really afraid that we are going backwards. There have been 17 shootings in the past year and 11 very serious violent incidents on the south side.

We had a welcome allocation of 20 extra gardaí in the August-September allocation. However, if this scheme is wound down, it will, in effect, nullify that allocation in one fell swoop. I am not the one saying this; it is coming from senior gardaí. The Minister for justice said earlier that he hopes a solution can be found after meeting with the Mayor of Limerick. My colleague Senator Dee Ryan has raised this issue in the Seanad as well. We need a permanent solution because the safety and well-being of the people of Limerick are at risk if the scheme is wound down or the cameras have to be turned off. We also have CCTV approved for the Castletroy greenway, for Garryowen and for Rathkeale in the county. Garryowen is one of the biggest policing blackspots in the city.

These schemes are in jeopardy if the Department of justice does not put a permanent funding solution in place. We are talking about €600,000 or €700,000. We are not talking about millions or billions of euro. The Government put billions of euro into regeneration. If this funding is refused, we will be put back years. Limerick is a special case. If a fund does not exist , the Minister needs to find or create one. Without Department-led funding, the council will be forced to reduce the monitoring and maintenance and eventually will be forced to turn off some or all of the cameras. This is a big policing and public safety issue.

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