Do we need more CCTV cameras for safer streets? A politician and a civil liberties campaigner debate

Irish Times

2 days ago

Olga Cronin: No. Reducing crime is much more complex than simply flooding cities with CCTV
Flooding our streets with CCTV is a bad idea. And fortunately, it would also be unlawful, for now.
CCTV has legitimate purposes, such as securing premises and assisting gardaí to investigate crimes and uphold the rights of victims of crime.
An Garda Síochána
has the
power
to install CCTV in public spaces for preventing, investigating, detecting or prosecuting criminal offences, and local authorities can also have CCTV installed to assist gardaí with those same purposes.
However, when CCTV is deployed in a manner that is neither necessary nor proportionate, it raises legitimate concerns of unreasonable and unlawful intrusion into our data protection and privacy rights. It can also lead to excessive monitoring of people's movements.
This approach to crime prevention has been the norm for over a decade in the
UK
. The Home Office's biometrics and surveillance commissioner described the country as an
'omni-surveillance' society'
. Such surveillance, real or perceived, risks undermining our fundamental freedoms as it can deter people from freely expressing themselves or participating in public life.
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This is why An Garda Síochána cannot simply erect cameras without justification. Our laws require that gardaí justify the use of a CCTV system as necessary to achieve their given purposes and proportionate in its impact upon those who will be recorded
before
any deployment. There are other requirements too.
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Just over 200 Garda CCTV cameras in operation in Dublin
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The laws in place to protect our data protection and privacy rights are not minor, nor are they purely technical or administrative limitations. They stem from the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights and reflect the core principle of human dignity that underpins the entire EU legal framework. This is why we must carefully guard them.
But, of course, their effectiveness depends entirely on how rigorously they are enforced. When oversight fails, the consequences can be devastating.
Irish activist and journalist Dara Quigley died tragically in 2017
after a garda at Pearse Street Garda station
recorded, on their mobile phone, CCTV footage of her walking naked in Dublin city before being
forcibly detained by gardaí under the Mental Health Act
. The garda recorded the footage from a monitor at the station and shared it with another person before it was uploaded to social media. Dara knew of the footage before she died.
Over a year after Dara Quigley's death, the Data Protection Commission (DPC) found that there was excessive access to the CCTV monitoring room in Pearse Street where
all Garda members had access to the station's then 34 live-feed cameras.
In 2019, the DPC found that gardaí in Duleek and Donore, in Co Meath, routinely failed to manually return their 'pan, tilt and zoom' CCTV cameras to their original focus. Some cameras were left directed at private homes in Duleek, while one camera in Donore was fixed on the front door of a priest's home, resulting in his home activities, and those of his visitors,
being permanently on view at Ashbourne Garda station
.
Olga Cronin, Irish Council for Civil Liberties
It was deeply troubling therefore, but not surprising, when it emerged three years later, in 2022, that issues concerning CCTV persisted in An Garda Síochána, with an internal data protection audit identifying the handling of CCTV footage as
an area of high risk
.
We must also consider whether CCTV is actually effective in reducing crime, since the necessity and proportionality of any technological tool depends on its effectiveness. In the Republic, the research on CCTV and crime prevention is mixed. A
2012 study
examined the effectiveness of CCTV in four undisclosed locations. Crime data was collected pre and post installation, and the results were inconclusive.
The impulse to reach for technology to solve social problems is understandable, but short-sighted. CCTV may have a role, if used in a rights-respecting manner, but it cannot be championed as a 'silver bullet' crime prevention measure, or the most important.
The difficult work of reducing crime is a more complex task than just potentially improving the ability to catch alleged offenders.
It involves gardaí building trust through effective community policing, especially in communities that have been badly hit by austerity and failing public services. It requires real effort to solve our crises in housing, health and education.
It also demands commitment to fostering a sense of pride in our localities, supporting people on the margins of our society and ensuring our young people have opportunities, facilities and support to thrive.
True community safety comes not from surveillance, but from solidarity and the vindication of our socio-economic rights.
Olga Cronin is surveillance and human rights senior policy officer at the Irish Council for Civil Liberties
James Geoghegan: Garda presence alone isn't enough. We need more CCTV to help make Dublin safer
Only one in three Dubliners say they feel safe in the capital city at night. That is according to a recent survey from Dublin City Council, and it matches what I hear on the ground. The organisation Dublin Town has reported similar findings. It's not hard to understand why.
There are parts of the city that feel unsafe, especially after dark. That is a reality we need to face and change. Dubliners want more gardaí on the streets. People don't want vague reassurances, they want visible policing.
James Geoghegan TD
That work is now under way. This spring, 66 newly qualified gardaí were deployed to the Dublin Metropolitan Region to support high-visibility patrols in key areas like O'Connell Street and Henry Street. This targeted approach, based on community concerns and crime data, is starting to make a difference. But Garda presence alone isn't enough. Gardaí can't be everywhere at once, and we shouldn't expect them to be. We need to support them with the right tools.
That is why I believe we need to invest in our CCTV network: more cameras in key areas, better system integration, and quicker access to footage for gardaí investigating crimes.
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The Irish Times view on CCTV in Dublin: Light camera action
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At the moment, there are just 209 Garda-operated CCTV cameras in all of Dublin, or one for every 6,000 people. By comparison, the borough of Hammersmith and Fulham in London has one for every 73 residents. Westminster has one for every 1,000 and is planning to expand that coverage.
Gardaí can also access footage from about 400 Dublin City Council cameras and, in some cases, private systems. But the process is too often slow and bureaucratic. Officers shouldn't be left waiting for paperwork while crucial evidence is lost.
To be clear, I'm not suggesting we mirror London's scale. But we do need more cameras in areas where crime and antisocial behaviour are common, and we need to make access to footage more efficient.
Some raise civil liberties concerns. The Irish Council for Civil Liberties, for example, has pointed out that gardaí accessed thousands of private cameras after the Dublin riots. That's true, but those riots were an extraordinary event. In more routine cases, such as assaults or vandalism, access is much slower, and victims can be left without timely support.
A business group I met recently pointed out this inconsistency. Thanks to new legislation, it is now far easier for authorities to access CCTV footage in cases of illegal dumping. Yet when a business is vandalised in the same area, gardaí often face significant delays trying to get the same kind of footage. That doesn't make sense.
I've seen this issue close-up. A constituent had his wallet and glasses stolen in a gym. He reported it immediately. But when he followed up with the Garda, he was told it could take up to two weeks to get the footage. By then, it had already been deleted. The case went nowhere.
With proper legal safeguards, giving gardaí faster access to video footage does not pose a serious threat to civil liberties. The evidence supports this too. Studies show CCTV can reduce crime by between 13 per cent and 20 per cent. It is not a silver bullet, and it works best when combined with measures like public realm improvements and strong community policing. But it helps.
The Government is rightly pursuing a mix of those approaches. But a modern capital city also needs a modern system for gathering and using video evidence.
People expect to feel safe in our capital. It's time we made sure that they can.
James Geoghegan is a Fine Gael TD for Dublin Bay South