CCTV cameras to cost €10k each

Councillors concerned over how community systems will be funded

Concern has been expressed over how community CCTV schemes will be funded after a meeting of Tipperary Co Council heard that the new cameras could cost almost €10,000 each.

Several councillors expressed concern at the January meeting after being informed of an estimated cost of around €255,000 for 26 CCTV cameras in Carrick-on-Suir. Several other towns, including Borrisokane and Roscrea, have CCTV schemes of their own planned, but councillors balked at the cost of funding them.

Cllr Joe Hannigan did not think it would be possible to proceed with the CCTV schemes at such cost. The local authority would not have the resources the fund them.

“We'd want to be very careful where we're heading with this,” Cllr Hannigan warned. He suggested that the Government would be better off resourcing two or three more gardaí in local towns, if CCTV was going to cost so much.

Cllr Ger Darcy disagreed, saying there is a great need for CCTV to support the gardaí in their work. But he was also concerned that funding the cameras may present another stumbling block in a rollout that local communities have been waiting years for. Some communities have been waiting so long that they doubt their CCTV scheme will ever happen, Cllr Darcy told the meeting.

Cllr Noel Coonan commended Director of Services Brian Beck and his team for the preparation of a council policy on CCTV. Progress is being made at last, he said, though there had already been been a “considerable waste of money” on consultant reports that “had to be redone and updated”, and the projected cost of cameras would only add to the sense of anger over the situation among local communities. Cllr Coonan said there are, however, companies in Tipperary that could install the systems and he asked for the council to use local knowledge in this regard, believing that the costs could be “pruned and trimmed”.

Cllr David Dunne agreed that the camera systems must be rolled out. Everyone wanted them, so funding would have be found. “You can't talk out both sides of your mouth,” he said. “You have to put your money where your mouth is.”

BOARD REPRESENTATION

Further concern was expressed over the makeup of the oversight board for Tipperary's CCTV rollout. Cllr Marie Murphy noted that the council's policy does not envisage any elected members on the board. If the councillors had to pass a budget on CCTV, there should be at least two of them on the board, she suggested.

Cllr Murphy also voiced unease over the projected cost of the cameras and their maintenance. She spoke of an estimate of around €1 million to install cameras in Cahir, Cashel and Carrick-on-Suir; the council could not sustain such “massive costs”, Cllr Murphy said, asking how other local authorities are funding their schemes and whether better value for money could be sought. She also asked whether local communities would have to carry costs.

Cllr Coonan agreed that elected members should have representation on the board. He pointed out that Tipperary Joint Policing Committee is to be disbanded and replaced with a new model that will have no councillors.

Council Director Brian Beck said the function of the oversight board would be to ensure that local CCTV schemes meet all the criteria and to ensure that a budget is in place to install and maintain the cameras. The board would not have any decision-making role.

The director agreed that the estimated cost of the cameras, which was based on a consultant report, seemed quite high but was not out of kilter with that seen by other local authorities. Mr Beck believed the council could find a way to “drive down” costs by looking at the various systems available and putting a single maintenance contract in place for them. He pointed out that there are Government grants available for CCTV but said the council would have to work at district level and with local communities to see how the balance could be made up.

Mr Beck pointed out that the figures quoted at the meeting related to Carrick-on-Suir; other towns would have different costs based on their own specific CCTV need. He added that CCTV does not replace gardaí and should not been seen as such.