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The Minister for Justice and Equality, Charlie Flanagan TD, has today encouraged groups to apply for the Community-based CCTV grant-aid scheme established by his Department to assist communities in the establishment of CCTV systems in their local areas. Under the scheme, community groups can apply for grant-aid of up to 60% of the total capital cost of a proposed system, up to a maximum grant of €40,000.

Speaking in the Seanad, the Minister said:

I am very anxious to ensure that all interested groups, in both rural and urban areas, take advantage of the availability of this grant-aid scheme. Full details of the grant aid package are available to download from my Department's website www.justice.ie and officials in my Department are available to provide additional guidance on the application process should that be helpful.

The scheme was developed in line with a commitment in the Programme for a Partnership Government to support investment in CCTV systems at key locations along the road network and in urban centres. The scheme is currently due to run until April 2020 with funding of some €1 million being made available each year.

The Minister added:

The investment represented by the community-based CCTV grant-aid scheme reflects the value that communities, especially rural communities, place on CCTV as a means of deterring crime and assisting in the detection of offenders. I am conscious too that An Garda Síochána have reviewed the effectiveness of CCTV systems and indicated that it utilises CCTV in almost every criminal investigation, during major public events and sporting occasions, in the investigation of road traffic incidents and in many other areas requiring police action. Community-based CCTV systems have therefore proven to be of significant assistance in the prevention and detection of crime throughout the State.

The grant-aid scheme is intended to supplement the existing network of CCTV systems. For example there are some 35 Garda CCTV schemes in operation throughout the State comprising in excess of 500 cameras. There are also some 45 Community-based CCTV schemes in operation, established under a previous grant-aid scheme funded by the Department between 2005 and 2013, encompassing some 367 cameras to which An Garda Síochána have access. Regarding the road network, services under the Garda Safety Camera contract commenced in May 2017 and provide an annual minimum of 90,000 hours of monitoring and surveying vehicle speed across 1,031 designated safety camera zones. Further expansion of the use of technologies including CCTV and Automatic Number Plate Recognition is included under the Garda Commissioner's Modernisation and Renewal Programme 2016-2021.