Louth County Council have announced that a new steering committee will oversee the roll out of CCTV surveillance project across the county within the next two weeks. The CCTV will be installed both covertly and overtly in various litter blackspots across Louth in a bid to thwart the ongoing problem of illegal dumping which has plagued towns and villages across the County for years.
Previously, Data Protection issues prevented the use of CCTV cameras to catch illegal dumpers in the act but all issues around the implementation of CCTV at litter hotspots have now been resolved and once the newly formed steering committee hold their first meeting within the next two weeks work will begin in earnest to install the CCTV cameras to catch dumpers in the act.
There are GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) guidelines in place for local authorities which need to be followed for each and every site that Louth County Council want to install CCTV cameras that are designed to catch illegal dumpers in the act.
A GDPR Risk Assessment has to be undertaken and submitted to the Data Protection Commissioner and signed off before the local authority can use them. This has now been done much to the delight of Councillor Antoin Watters who has been pleading for help from Louth County Council to stop illegal dumping since he first became a public representative in 2016. Watters has often stated that illegal dumping is rampant in rural areas especially in North Louth and only last week he was called to Edentubber where, not for the first time, there was a significant dumping of tyres in the area.
Cllr Watters said “The roll-out of CCTV at litter blackspots could not come at a better time. Following years of trying to tackle the illegal dumping of tyres, building materials and a host of other items, we have been prevented from erecting CCTV because of legal issues.
“Over the past few weeks we have seen the illegal dumping of tyres creeping into the County again. Upon asking for an update at this month’s Council meeting, it was confirmed that all documentation and risk assessments had been completed and a meeting of the new steering committee was imminent. This committee will oversee the roll-out of the CCTV surveillance project and it has been confirmed that it should happen in the next two weeks.”
Cllr Watters who has been at the fore-front of this issue for a number of years said “I am delighted that this is coming to fruition. It is a farce that I can be under surveillance anywhere and everywhere but if I drive up a quiet road and dump hundreds of old tyres, I can’t be on camera. Well, that is changing and I welcome it. Illegal dumping is a scourge on any county and Louth has had its fair share and we have had enough. Hopefully the CCTV will be a deterrent to anyone planning on dumping their unwanted rubbish in our community,” stated the Sinn Fein councillor.
