Motorway cameras ‘vital’ in f ight against crime

A NETWORK of CCTV cameras across Ireland’s motorways could be a vital tool in fighting rural crime but only Dublin’s M50 has extensive camera coverage.

In England and Wales, police can access high-spec cameras covering most of the motorway network to catch criminals, calling them a ‘vital tool’, but that tool is not an option for An Garda Síochána.

Crime in rural areas is a major problem for communities and gardaí, as the Irish Mail on Sunday has reported extensively, with criminal gangs targeting areas near motorways in raids on farms.

A spokesperson for Transport Infrastructure Ireland confirmed that on most motorways, the only cameras are weather monitors that take a still image every minute or two. Those images would be of little use to gardaí trying to track down a vehicle used in a raid.

In 2015, there was a trial of motorway CCTV under then environment minister Alan Kelly. The trial appears to have been discontinued, with different departments not knowing which would be responsible for overseeing it after the old ministry’s responsibilities were carved up.

Joe Parlon, a representative of Offaly Community Alert, said that placing cameras at motorway slip roads ‘would be hugely helpful to guards’. He said: ‘It’s too easy, we hear most of the ones that have been caught have been coming from Dublin on the motorways.’

Data protection concerns have been cited as a stumbling block for wider CCTV monitoring of the motorways. However, police forces in other countries say they have found it a ‘highly effective means of combating terrorism and serious crime, and protecting local communities’.

Mr Parlon said that ‘cameras are vital’ due to low Garda numbers. He explained that in the wake of a crime, gardaí often ask people who have surveillance cameras in their homes to look at footage for clues.

‘It’s up to towns and villages to sort cameras in their areas, but on the motorways, it has to be paid for by the Government,’ he said.

Community CCTV schemes are available to vulnerable areas, with grants helping to pay for cameras, but that requires each area to raise some of the funds to install equipment. Mr Parlon explained that it would cost his area around €8,000 to put up cameras and over €3,000 of that cost would have to be raised by local communities.

An Garda Síochána did not respond to a request for comment about motorway CCTV.