Concern Louth CCTV cameras ‘always pointing in the wrong direction’ amid call for change
A Louth councillor has claimed that CCTV cameras in Dundalk town centre are failing to capture “a lot of very serious incidents”.
Speaking at the latest meeting of Louth County Council, Cllr Shane McGuinness said the camera system on Earl Street — operated by An Garda Síochána — is “not working, and nobody is managing them.”
He told councillors that “a lot of very serious incidents” in the town at night are going unrecorded.
“There is a lot of antisocial behaviour at night in Dundalk, and this is something we really need to take up with the Community Safety Partnership,” he said.
Cllr McGuinness said he had spoken directly with gardaí about the system and argued that the reliance on a single camera mounted high on a pole was not fit for purpose.
He suggested that having “a number of different cameras capturing images from different directions” would give gardaí far better visibility, adding that the current camera is “always pointing in the wrong direction when something happens.”
Due to these shortcomings, he said gardaí are routinely forced to go “around local businesses trying to get their CCTV,” which he described as a waste of time and an avoidable delay in investigations.
He added that many “really serious incidents” in the town centre at night were being missed completely because the system was not effective.
Cllr McGuinness said CCTV systems on both Earl Street and Park Street need to be “fully functioning” if they are to play any real role in supporting policing efforts.
Responding, Director of Services David Hanratty confirmed that the Earl Street CCTV system is operated solely by An Garda Síochána and is not under the remit of Louth County Council.
He said the concerns raised could be referred to the chairperson of the Louth Community Safety Partnership for further consideration.