Wicklow among top recipients of community CCTV funding
The Wicklow PeopleCounty Wicklow is among the highest funded counties in the country under the Community CCTV Grant Aid Scheme since it launched in 2017.
New figures show the Garden County received €90,000 across four allocations, placing it among the top recipients nationwide. Only a small number of counties, including Limerick and Wexford, received more.
Wicklow’s funding arrived in €20,000 allocations in both 2018 and 2022, a larger €45,000 payment in 2020, and a €5,000 maintenance related payment in 2023. This repeated pattern of investment marks Wicklow as one of the most active counties in using the scheme to install, upgrade or maintain community run CCTV systems.
Commenting on the figures Justice Minister Jim O’Callaghan noted that CCTV can play an important role in helping people feel safer in their towns and villages, while also supporting gardaí in deterring and investigating crime.
Justice Minister Jim O’Callaghan. © Sam boal/Collins Photos
While the Department of Justice administers the grant scheme, the minister stressed that decisions on installing or expanding CCTV rest with each local authority.
For Wicklow, this means that future upgrades or new installations in towns such as Bray, Arklow, Greystones or Wicklow town will depend on Wicklow County Council’s own plans.
No payments were issued in 2025, or so far in 2026, as the national system is currently transitioning to a new legal framework. That framework, set out in the Garda Síochána (Recording Devices) Act 2023, is expected to come into force this summer.
It will replace the older, inconsistent approach with a single national system for approving and operating public‑space CCTV. Before this can begin, an amendment dealing with existing applications must pass through the Oireachtas.
Once the new rules take effect, the Garda Commissioner will issue a formal Code of Practice setting out how CCTV should be installed, monitored and maintained.
For counties like Wicklow, which have already invested heavily in community CCTV, the new framework is likely to bring clearer procedures and more consistent oversight.
Alongside the CCTV scheme, the minister highlighted a broader shift in how community safety is planned and delivered across the country. Under the Policing, Security and Community Safety Act 2024, every local authority now has a Local Community Safety Partnership, or LCSP.
These partnerships are designed to bring together a wide range of voices, residents, councillors, gardaí, the HSE, Tusla, business groups, youth services and community organisations, to identify the specific safety concerns affecting each area.
Wicklow’s LCSP is already in place and is expected to play a central role in shaping local priorities.
Unlike older policing committees, the LCSP model is more community‑driven, giving local people a direct say in what issues should be tackled first.
This can include everything from improving street lighting and redesigning public spaces to addressing antisocial behaviour, supporting youth programmes or coordinating responses to local crime trends.
The partnerships are also responsible for producing multi‑year Community Safety Plans, which set out practical actions that different agencies will take together.
In Wicklow, this means that decisions about CCTV will no longer sit in isolation but will be considered alongside other safety measures.