James Bannon (Longford-Westmeath, Fine Gael)
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Question 115: To ask the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform the steps he is taking to permit closed circuit television projects to go to tender which have received grant allocation subject to approval by joint policing committees and are being frustrated by the fact that such committees have been set up on a pilot basis in only a small number of areas, effectively penalising those projects in areas without a pilot policing committee. [4206/08]

Brian Lenihan Jnr (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)
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In accordance with the Garda Síochána Act 2005, the Joint Policing Committee for the relevant local authority area must be consulted before the local authority can approve an application to the Garda Commissioner for authorisation for a CCTV system. The 29 Joint Policing Committees currently established in a pilot phase operate under revised guidelines issued by my predecessor in May 2007. The purpose of the pilot phase is to gain experience from the operation of a number of Committees in a variety of local authority areas before rolling them out to all local authority areas in the State.

Following consultations with my colleagues the Ministers for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government and Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs, I intend to issue, as soon as possible, revised guidelines to enable roll-out of the committees to all local authority areas in the State. The guidelines will provide inter alia a timetable for this roll-out.