Conor Sheehan (Limerick City, Labour)
Link to this: Individually | In context

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.

Robert Troy (Longford-Westmeath, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context

I thank the Deputy for raising this important matter. I understand the Ministers, Deputies O'Callaghan and Browne, met with Mayor Moran today to discuss this matter. The fact that meeting took place indicates how serious the matter is being taken by all who attended it. I commend Mayor Moran on coming to meet directly with the two Ministers. I am hopeful a solution can be found in the short term to the funding issues that arise to keep the CCTV scheme running. In fairness to both Ministers, they are anxious to see a solution and identified to Mayor Moran what they believe is the short-term solution.

I recognise Deputy Sheehan's interest in continuing to invest in CCTV to build safer, more secure communities. I thank him for his very positive contribution. Community safety is a top priority for the Government and the Department of justice. Everyone has a right to be safe and to feel safe in their communities. Community CCTV plays an important role in achieving that goal. It is important to note that there are a number of CCTV systems operating in Limerick. I understand the particular system referred to by the Deputy, and, as he alluded to, by Senator Dee Ryan, was established under the regeneration programme in Limerick approximately ten years ago as part of a much broader initiative to improve the quality of life of local communities in Limerick. I understand that, to date, the majority of funding for this CCTV scheme has come from the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage as part of the regeneration projects in Limerick, with a significant contribution also being made by Limerick City and County Council. I also understand the CCTV system concerned consists of approximately 240 cameras, with an operating cost for 2024 of more than €800,000. As such, the infrastructure in place in Limerick is well outside the scope of the grant aid scheme administered by the Department of justice which supports community groups wishing to establish community-based CCTV systems in their local area. Grants up to a maximum of €40,000 are available for capital expenditure and up to €5,000 for maintenance under the scheme.

CCTV is very much part of community safety and it is intended that as the new local community safety partnerships are established, they will take a view on the need for additional CCTV in their areas. In addition, under the Garda Síochána (Recording Devices) Act 2023, the Garda Commissioner will have a significant role to play in the approval of CCTV schemes into the future. It goes without saying that the Government is very much aware of the value of CCTV generally in keeping people safe and ensuring they feel safe. Insofar as this particular scheme is concerned, I hope it will be possible for it to continue to operate as it has done over the past decade.

Conor Sheehan (Limerick City, Labour)
Link to this: Individually | In context

I thank the Minister of State. It might seem like it takes a lot of money to run the Limerick scheme compared with community CCTV schemes, particularly in more compact areas. However, Limerick is a unique place and not just because I am saying it is. It is unique because, unfortunately, we have eight of the top ten most deprived areas in the State. We have some of the best but poorest communities in the entire country. Those communities need extra support. They got that extra support through regeneration, which is now being wound down. There must be a mechanism devised by which the funding that was in the Department of housing, and it is not within that Department's competence to be funding CCTV, can be transferred to the Department of justice because this is a policing and public safety issue.

Ultimately, it also a cost-saving issue because it reduces the cost of investigation, it reduces the cost to the Courts Service because we have a higher than average guilty plea rate and it takes bad faith actors off the street. I always think of a woman in her late 70s called Rose Hanrahan who was murdered in December 2017 in Thomondgate in Limerick. If it was not for these cameras, Rose's murderer would not have been apprehended, charged and convicted. It was done because the vile individual who set upon Rose that night was caught on this system of cameras.

At the moment, I am very worried there are the seeds of a feud in Limerick again. We really need these cameras to deal with that properly. We need a proper, long-term funding solution from Government.

Robert Troy (Longford-Westmeath, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context

I again thank the Deputy for raising this very important matter. As I said, the Government recognises the important role that CCTV plays in building stronger, safer communities across the country. The importance of this matter is demonstrated by the meeting held today between the Mayor and the two relevant Ministers. Since 2017, the Department of justice has administered a grant aid scheme supporting groups wishing to establish a community-based CCTV system in their area. To date, grants totalling over €950,000 have been approved for 36 community schemes across the country. This includes 14 schemes across County Limerick, which have received funding of over €330,000. Under this grant aid scheme, funding is only provided for the cost of equipment. Staffing costs are not covered and the maximum grant under the scheme is €45,000.

As has been indicated, the operation of infrastructure that has been developed in Limerick and has to date been funded by the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage and Limerick City and County Council is unfortunately outside the scope of the grant aid scheme administered by the Department of justice. However, it is my understanding that there are local authority CCTV schemes operating in both Dublin and Cork, and possibly elsewhere, that are funded by local authorities. As such, it seems appropriate that the funding requirements for the continued operation of the CCTV system in Limerick need to be again considered by Limerick City and County Council and the Department of housing to ensure the funding arrangements for the CCTV system in Limerick city are placed on a sustainable footing.

The Deputy has made some valid points here this evening and I assure him they will be relayed back to the two relevant Ministers who met Mayor Moran earlier today.