800 Chinese CCTV cameras banned in EU Parliament for children’s hospital
MORE than 800 CCTV cameras will be installed at the new National Children’s Hospital, the Irish Mail on Sunday has learned.
The CCTV technology at the new Dublin hospital will be provided by Chinese firm, Hikvision, whose cameras were banned from the EU Parliament and the parliament buildings of the US, UK, Denmark and Australia over spying fears.
The high number of cameras has caused disquiet among some senior members of both the hospital development board and Children’s Health Ireland (CHI).
One source expressed surprise at the huge number of cameras at the muchdelayed facility.
They told the MoS: ‘I don’t think there’s any need for anything like that number of cameras, it’s a pity. There’s nearly twice the number of cameras as there are beds in the hospital.’
‘There’s twice the number of cameras there as beds’
Another source questioned why so many cameras were required at the new hospital, which is expected to cost well in excess of €2bn.
‘I think it’s overkill,’ the source said. ‘Given the extraordinarily high costs involved in this project, you’d wonder are all those cameras necessary? Not to mention the issue of privacy.
‘They say the cameras won’t be in patients’ rooms and treatment areas but can they remotely monitor activity there? We don’t know that.’
Last year CHI was criticised after documents showed the technology available to the hospital under its security systems contract includes cameras and software which can count the number of people who enter a room.
The cameras can also, using the right software, provide panoramic views of a room, generate heat maps to analyse how long visitors stayed in the hospital, as well as capture and zoom in on images of people’s faces.
For comparison, St Vincent’s University Hospital in south Dublin installed 116 CCTV cameras at its facility eight years ago.
The Aviva stadium at Lansdowne Road, which hosts crowds of more than 50,000, has 240 CCTV cameras inside and outside the venue.
Hikvision is part-owned by the Chinese state and has alleged links to the Chinese military.
Last year, there were calls to remove Hikvision cameras in the Dáil buildings
The Cathaoirleach of the Seanad, Jerry Buttimer, called on the Oireachtas Commission, which oversees the day-to-day running of Leinster House, to investigate concerns raised over Chinese-made security cameras on the campus.
Green TD Patrick Costello also called for a review of the use of Chinese-owned security cameras in Leinster House.
In the face of vocal opposition from civil liberties groups and other concerned bodies, CHI backed down on the plan to use facial recognition software.
But Hikvision will still supply the 800-plus cameras at the National Children’s Hospital.
A CHI spokesperson said this weekend: ‘Regarding the software, Children’s Health Ireland... has made the decision not to use facial recognition technology in the hospital. The safety of patients, visitors and staff at the new children’s hospital is of paramount importance to everyone working on the project.
‘A competitive procurement process for the installation of the security systems at the new children’s hospital took place, consistent with public procurement guidelines and subject to the usual legal provisions and responsibilities.
‘All aspects of the security systems will be in line with Irish and European data protection and privacy legislation and guidelines.’
Defending the number of cameras, another source close to the development noted the new hospital will be the size of ‘the Dundrum Town shopping centre’.
However, the Dundrum mall has just under 400 CCTV cameras, which still makes it the most heavily surveilled shopping centre in the country.
Health Minister Stephen Donnelly recently told the MoS he does not expect the new hospital – which will be seven storeys high in parts and comprise 160,000m of accommodation – to open before the next General Election, currently scheduled for spring next year.
Sources close to the project this weekend said they still have not put a clear timeframe on the opening. They said design issues were ‘at the heart and the root cause of a lot of the problems’ concerning the hospital’s development, its delay and spiralling costs.
‘A lot of it wasn’t designed (before it went to tender),’ a source said.
‘So you had quantity surveyors making assumptions and putting figures against things, which had turned out to be multiples wrong.’
The Irish Council for Civil Liberties (ICCL) described the number of cameras at the new hospital as ‘excessive’.
Surveillance and Human Rights Senior Policy Officer Olga Cronin told the MoS: ‘While we don’t know the size or layout of the new hospital, or where cameras would be located, 800 cameras seems to be an excessive amount.
‘CCTV systems can have legitimate purposes, such as securing premises, but it must be used proportionately.’
Ms Cronin said the ICCL ‘previously raised concerns about plans to install Hikvision surveillance cameras in the new National Children’s Hospital’.
She added: ‘Hikvision is implicated in very serious human rights violations against Uyghur Muslims in China.’
In addition, she said, these cameras have facial surveillance technology capabilities.
‘CCTV systems must be used proportionally’