Village in Kildare 'the most dangerous, crime-wise village in our MD'

Derrinturn is “the most dangerous, crime-wise village in our MD”, Cllr Brendan Wyse (FG) said at a recent meeting of Clane-Maynooth Municipal District.

Cllr Wyse was calling for Kildare County Council to nominate Derrinturn as the pilot village for a community CCTV scheme, “in place of Clane.”

He said that if there is a CCTV scheme, then “it should go in the most dangerous, crime-wise village in our MD”, and while Clane had an incident of a graffiti artist “going around destroying the place”, in Derrinturn there was “hundreds of thousands of euro of damage” done to housing stock by drug gangs.

READ NEXT: 3,000 cars disappear after failing NCT leaving testers and drivers wondering

In some cases, Cllr Wyse said, innocent people's houses were being burned down, with thugs having been given a target then “hitting the wrong house.”

He said CCTV would be of huge benefit to the gardai, because while there was a local garda station, it was not fully manned, and so the area was reliant on Leixlip Garda Station.

He added that if ever the MD had a CCTV scheme set up, then Derrinturn “is the first place that should get it.”

Cllr Padraig McEvoy (IND) said the people of Clane would be very disappointed with Cllr Wyse's proposal, as they have been promised the scheme for a long time and have done fundraising for the project at a local level.

The people of Clane had done a feasibility report, there were LPT monies allocated to the scheme, as well as other work in relation to the scheme, he said, adding he would be “very surprised” if members decided to take the scheme away from Clane.

A report issued by the council stated that Derrinturn may be considered as a pilot village for the community CCTV scheme provided elected members agree to the reallocation of Local Property Tax to the project.

The report further noted that councillors should be aware that the establishment of a Local

Authority led Community CCTV scheme is set out under S38 of An Garda Siochana

Act 2005 and S.28 of An Garda Siochana (Recording Devices) Act 2023.

Under both pieces of legislation, the report added, the establishment of Community CCTV schemes

requires the authorisation/consultation of the local Joint Policing Committee (JPC)

prior to submission of an application to the Garda Commissioner for approval.

However, the report stated, “As there is no longer a JPC in place to obtain this authorisation/consultation, there does not appear to be a mechanism currently available for Local Authorities to apply for establishment of any Community CCTV schemes at this time.

The report continued: “Under S38 of An Garda Siochana Act 2005 and S.27 of An Garda Siochana (Recording Devices) Act 2023, members of An Garda Siochana can apply directly to the Garda Commissioner for authorisation for the installation of Community CCTV without recourse to the Joint Policing Committees, this appears the only mechanism currently available to progress Community CCTV schemes.

The report concluded: “It is not known at this stage if the required authorisations will be from part of the newly established Local Community Safety Partnerships which will replace the JPC, as regulations for same are currently awaited.”