Michael McDowell (Dublin South East, Progressive Democrats)

That is where subsection (13) originated. I thought we might have the unintended consequence of making illegal that which we all believe is very good.

On the fixed and permanent system, that was put in again at my insistence. I will give an example of that, although I do not want to get into the question of guilt or innocence. The spraying of graffiti on Jewish sites in Dublin was the subject of video surveillance. I do not want an ad hoc camera which is put up to stop a particular activity being the subject of permission from the Garda Commissioner, consultation with local policing committees and so on. There are ad hoc uses of cameras in public places for particular crimes. If a journalist is under threat and we want to put up a camera near his or her house, we do not want to have to go through all of this procedure to do something on an ad hoc basis. Likewise, the example I gave was a useful tool for the gardaí to stop that activity. I do not want to talk about any pending court proceedings.