Martin Mansergh (Fianna Fail)

It is an essential aid both for dealing with anti-social behaviour — for which it is badly required — and for dealing with serious crime.

I have some reservations about the point on retention of material which is no doubt made for civil libertarian reasons. News reports today included coverage of a Garda investigation into a murder that occurred 32 years ago. In some cases events come to light five, ten or 15 years after they occur. I would not be in any hurry to destroy records. Cases of abuse of CCTV coverage by public authorities might alter that, but the reality is that so much information is recorded that unless people who wish to make use of it know precisely for what they are searching and why they are doing so, it is like searching for a needle in a haystack. I would not be greatly concerned that a storage facility of CCTV coverage from five or ten years ago would be open to abuse. In many instances if we had records we would be in a better position to pursue convictions for crimes.

With regard to amendments referring to the Garda Commissioner or the Minister specifying matters, in reality this is done on the basis of submissions and consultations. The Garda Commissioner does not wake up some fine morning and decide to put CCTV in Listowel or Adare. It means he will make the final decision on submissions received. If one considers all the possible quibbles, qualifications and conditions, legislation would be impossibly long, and this legislation is already long. One must be wary of entangling decision makers in so many different procedures that it becomes difficult to progress matters expeditiously. I welcome the new section of the Bill without qualification or quibble.