Ciarán Cuffe (Dún Laoghaire, Green Party)
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Question 162: To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform if his Department is currently drafting legislation or intends to draft legislation in the lifetime of the current Government to regulate the use of closed circuit television cameras on private dwellings in residential areas. [41111/06]

Michael McDowell (Dublin South East, Progressive Democrats)
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The Data Protection Acts 1998 and 2003 already apply to personal data recorded through the operation of CCTV systems or other monitoring equipment.

The Privacy Bill which was published on 4 July 2006 creates an offence to be known as the tort of invasion of privacy, for a person wilfully and without lawful authority to violate the privacy of another individual. Where material obtained from closed circuit television or other monitoring equipment may be used in an inappropriate manner, then the aggrieved person will have an accessible remedy in law.

The Privacy Bill contains a defence (in Section 5) in a privacy action for a defendant to prove that the act in respect of which a privacy action is being brought consisted of the installation or operation, in good faith, of a closed circuit television system or other surveillance system for a purpose authorised by law, or for the purpose of detecting or preventing the commission of an offence or the protection of persons or property.