Trim CCTV now 'ready to go'

The green light has been given for CCTV in Trim. At a recent meeting of the town's Joint Policing Committee (JPC), town clerk Brian Murphy said the long-awaited project was finally "ready to go" after being passed by planners. The scheme, which had been first rejected by planners as far back as 2007, will go on public display in the New Year to hear submissions from locals. Mr Murphy said that there were still a few issues to "iron out with the Data Commissioner" but that planning permission was now in place for four zones around the town. The chairman of the JPC, Cllr Ronan McKenna, said he was "delighted" to hear that progress had been made after such a "drawn-out" process and said the recently-installed CCTV scheme in Navan was working well and assisting gardaí with investigations. Cllr Gerard Reilly inquired about possibly having a mobile camera. He was told by Superintendent Mary Gormley that mobile cameras are "temporary and covert" rather than CCTV areas which are "signposted and overt" and that, therefore, as no planning permission was needed for them, they would be outside of the scheme. She said the cameras would be to Garda specification standard and would be of "great assistance" in investigating crimes. However, she said they were "no substitute for people and vigilance". They're an aid, she added. Cllr McKenna said an additional feature of the cameras is that they could be hooked up to cameras on other businesses in the area - "the hotel and the garda station can be linked into the system". "I'm very happy we've reached this stage, it's good for the council, for the town and for the gardaí," he said. Cllr James O'Shea asked what was the timescale required to have the cameras up and running. He was told by Mr Murphy that before the Part 8 process - eight weeks of public display - the specifications would have to be agreed, then the remaining Data Commissioner issues would have to be dealt with, and after that, tendering, the drawing up of documents and the procurement process could all add up to a year. Mr Murphy also noted that there might be fears that the cameras were for "looking into people's backyards; that's not the case, they are for the thoroughfares and will be sign-posted". He also told councillors that all four camera zones, comprising 12 cameras in total, might not go ahead all at once, depending on money available. Cllr McKenna suggested if that was the case, then there might be "one or two priority areas" that could be monitored first before the entire scheme became operational.