Oireachtas Joint Committee on Justice: Community groups are to be able to apply directly for funding to set up their own CCTV schemes, Minister for Justice Michael McDowell has said.
When addressing the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Justice yesterday, Mr McDowell said he had been unhappy with the roll-out of the CCTV programme under the auspices of the Garda. "I'm going to give it a new impetus and new funding and make sure it is outsourced in the future," he said.
Community groups will be able to start applying for grants of up to €100,000 in coming weeks, he said.
A spokesman for the Department of Justice said it would be then up to the community groups, in conjunction with the relevant local authority, to install, maintain and monitor the community-based CCTV schemes.
Areas of disadvantage which have been identified as having particular problems with anti-social behaviour and on-street crime, will be eligible for extra funding.
The spokesman said areas in the Revitalising Areas by Planning, Investment and Development (rapid) scheme, could apply for extra matching funding from the Department of Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs.
"This means that rapid areas wishing to install their own CCTV system will be able to avail of an overall maximum grant of up to €200,000."
He said it had not been possible for the Garda to install CCTV systems in all the areas that had sought them due to the "detailed, complex and lengthy process" involved in each proposed scheme.
"The Minister is anxious to reduce as far as possible the workload of the Garda Síochána in this regard . . . making use not only of the technical but also of the project management expertise in the private sector."
