Laois CCTV Scheme suffers another setback

After eight years of fundraising, meetings and bureaucracy, a rural CCTV scheme which followed all the rules is now facing a new and potentially insurmountable hurdle.

The latest development was branded ‘ridiculous’ by the scheme’s chairperson who said it feels like the law is on the side of criminals. 

Established in 2015, Woodenbridge CCTV Scheme was viewed by many in Laois as a model of how such schemes should progress.  

Last February, Laois County Council informed the committee that their scheme was on the cusp of being officially approved. It was to be the second community led scheme in the county to get official approval after Mountmellick achieved the status last year.  

The local community in Woodenbridge have raised thousands through donations and fundraisers. They enlisted the help of celebrities like Helen Carroll from RTE’s Ear to the Ground and crime reporter Paul Williams to help with their efforts. 

Chairman of Woodenbridge Community Alert, Michael G Phelan said members of the community, in particular the elderly and often those who could least afford it, made private donations towards the scheme. Although planning permission was granted and the cameras are installed and are operating since 2021, issues around data control meant the scheme wasn’t officially approved. 

However, the scheme appeared to be progressing. The council agreed to become joint data controllers along with An Garda Siochana as required by law. A grant of 60% funding was secured in 2019 but can’t be drawn down prior to approval.  

“On 20th February of this year we were informed by Laois County Council that all was now correct with the project and it would be only a matter of ‘dotting I's and crossing t's’ which in their words would only take days.  Then the system would be officially turned on,” Mr Phelan recalled. 

The move would have been a great relief to all involved in Woodenbridge. The CCTV cameras are now up so long their warranty has expired and the installer, ACI Security, is still waiting to be paid because the 60% funding is effectively frozen. 

However, Laois County Council has now set out additional requirements for the system that will be both costly and would be time consuming.

“The goalposts were shifted again by Laois County Council,” Mr Phelan said.  

The council has requested the retention of data for two years as opposed to the 28 days currently in place. 

“This is an auditing requirement to facilitate the comparison between the digital log and the ‘hard copy’ log/registers of access requests which are maintained by An Garda Síochána and by Laois County Council,” the  council stated in correspondence with the group. 

ACI said the entire system would need to be upgraded to facilitate the request.  

“It seems to be getting to a situation that yet again the goal posts are being moved with these requests,” ACI stated. 

They say they installed the CCTV cameras as per the specifications set out in 2021. 

“We have attended meetings when requested all without receiving any payment for our work.

We will not be carrying out any more work without receiving all monies owed,” they stated. 

Community CCTV Schemes 'nearly designed not to work' Laois TD tells meeting

ACI described the council’s request as unreasonable and say they now intend to seek interest on top of the money already owed. 

Mr Phelan is upset that the installer isn’t being paid and he believes the council are reluctant to take on the scheme.

“It is ridiculous. It is crazy. It is put up to serve the community and make the place a bit safer. The council should work with us,” he said. 

“I hate to think of that man(the CCTV Camera Installer) being out of pocket,” Mr Phelan said. 

“The law seems to be on their(Criminals) side,” he added.