Calls for CCTV in Westport

‘Westport needs CCTV now’


Judge express surprise at lack of publicly funded facility

Anton McNulty

THE lack of CCTV cameras along busy public areas of Westport was again brought into focus last week after a Circuit Court Judge expressed surprise at the lack of footage from a brawl outside a night club in the town.
At last week’s sitting of Castlebar Circuit Court, Judge Raymond Groarke made his comment during sentencing of seven young men from Louisburgh and Westport who pleaded guilty to public order offences outside the C2 nightclub in April 2009.
The court heard that up to 30 people from the two towns were involved in a number of scuffles following the nightclub. When Judge Groarke asked if CCTV of the incidents would be shown, he was informed by John Jordan, BL for the prosecution that CCTV coverage was available but it was not clear and may not be of assistance to the court.
“I am surprised that there is not clear CCTV footage of what took place outside a premises that sounds like a source of a certain amount of anti-social behaviour,” said Judge Groarke, who added that adequate CCTV cameras should be in place which will allow the court to clearly see what is shown.
Westport currently doesn’t have a publicly funded CCTV system and gardaí rely on private CCTV footage from the town’s businesses. The town has currently applied for funding for the installation of a state of the art CCTV system, which will include close to 20 cameras positioned around the town.
Fine Gael TD, Michael Ring told The Mayo News that it was a matter of urgency that a CCTV system is installed in Westport in order for gardaí to tackle anti-social behaviour and ensure people feel safe.
“It is clear Westport needs CCTV now. It is very important that Westport has a public CCTV system in place because gardaí are relying on private businesses when we should have our own. Westport is a busy tourist town with thousands of people coming here every weekend and it is in our interest that a system is in place to ensure that people coming here feel safe,” he said.
Funding for a Community-based CCTV Scheme was launched in 2005 to provide             financial assistance towards the capital costs of establishing a community CCTV system.  The scheme also offers pre-development grants of up to €5,000 to enable qualifying applicants to investigate the need for CCTV in their area and to complete a detailed proposal. To date there have been two major rounds of this Scheme, in 2005 and 2007
Last December, Deputy Ring raised the issue in the DΡil where he asked the Minister for Justice if funding would be made available for a CCTV system. He was informed that Pobal, who administer the scheme, received an application from Westport in 2007 it was deemed not to have met a number of the qualifying criteria and was therefore not approved for funding.
Castlebar is the only town in Mayo to have its own CCTV system and is understood to be a major advantage to gardaí in the town in tackling crime and anti-social behaviour. The Mayo News understands that a new application for Westport and Ballina had gone through and Deputy Ring said he will be making representations to ensure the funding was made available for Westport.
“I am disappointed that funding in 2005 and 2007 was not made available to Westport and if it was we would not have the problem we are in now. We are lucky that we don’t have a massive problem with anti-social behaviour in Westport but we need to deal with crime and having this system will prevent crime and help the gardaí. I will be raising this matter in the DΡil and we are entitled to a fair share of funding,” he said.
Superintendent Mick Murray told The Mayo News that he could not comment on the comments made by Judge Groarke as he was not in court but admitted the current system in the town was ‘not ideal’. He said if they received funding for a new CCTV system it would play a significant part in tackling crime.
“No we are not happy [with the current situation] and we would like to have a full CCTV system like they have in Castlebar, which will be a major tool in identifying crime in the town. Every time we go to premises around the town we are assisted but having a camera up on lampposts would be an extra advantage in the fight against crime,” he said.