Niamh Smyth (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)
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213. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality when a community council (details supplied) will have approval on the CCTV application that was submitted in February 2019. [30108/19]

Charles Flanagan (Laois, Fine Gael)
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Community CCTV is governed by section 38(3)(c) of the Garda Síochána Act 2005 and the Garda Síochána (CCTV) Order 2006 (SI No 289 of 2006). This legal framework requires that any proposed community CCTV scheme must:

- be approved by the local Joint Policing Committee,

- have the prior support of the relevant local authority, which must also undertake to act as data controller and

- have the authorisation of the Garda Commissioner.

This is the legal basis for all community CCTV schemes and these key legal requirements have not changed since 2006.

A grant aid scheme is administered by my Department to support proposed CCTV schemes which meet these legal requirements. I can confirm that my Department received a funding application from the community group referred to by the Deputy on 17 May of this year. The application has been assessed against the criteria of the grant aid scheme and my officials have recently reverted directly to the individuals concerned.

The grant aid scheme remains open for applications in 2019. I am keen to ensure that all interested groups which have secured the necessary legal approvals for community CCTV have the opportunity to take advantage of the availability of the grant aid scheme. Further details are available to download from my Department's website - www.justice.ie and support and guidance is available to help interested groups through a dedicated email address communitycctv@justice.ie.