Telling public where CCTV cameras are located in Wexford ‘defeats the whole purpose’

By Simon Bourke, Wexford People

While the installation of six new CCTV cameras around the county has been broadly welcomed by Wexford’s councillors, the wisdom of informing the public exactly where those cameras are located has been called into question. Suggesting that signposting the cameras effectively “defeats the whole purpose”, Kilmuckridge councillor Mary Farrell has asked whether Wexford County Council (WCC) has the remit to surreptitiously erect CCTV cameras.

“Are we legally obliged to let the public know where our cameras are?” she asked at the January meeting of the Gorey Kilmuckridge Municipal District (GKMD). “If we tell them where they’re located it defeats the whole purpose. Some people are indiscriminate, they have no conscience, they’re just throwing bags of rubbish out of the windows of their cars.

"It’s disgusting to see these bags strewn along the side of the road. The new cameras are great, but I don’t see the purpose of letting people know where they are.”

In response, environmental engineer Enda Brennan said the installation of any new CCTV cameras involved a “rigorous process” and a “detailed application” and that they had to be advertised prior to any works being completed.