Sir, – A letter to this newspaper (March 23rd) has asked the Data Protection Commission (DPC) to explain, in the context of the use of CCTV cameras to detect illegal dumpers, "why a local authority cannot put a camera where the law is obviously and blatantly being broken".
Irish law allows local authorities to install CCTV to detect criminal offences where that CCTV has been authorised by the Garda Commissioner. At present, there is no basis in Irish law for local authorities to install CCTV for law enforcement purposes without first being authorised by the Garda Commissioner.
When the State deploys CCTV to detect criminal offences, it is likely to record those lawfully going about their daily business as well as those few that are breaking the law. This can have intrusive consequences for all of us, particularly if the surveillance cameras are covert, as was the case for one of the local authorities we reprimanded. The purpose of the laws implemented in Ireland is to require detail as to the circumstances in which the State can deploy surveillance technologies. This foreseeability protects citizens against arbitrary interferences by means of surveillance technologies. Such rules also guarantee to the public that the State has considered the necessary balancing tests before deploying the technologies. Is the deployment of CCTV necessary to solve the fly-tipping problem? Indeed, will it actually solve the problem and if so does that warrant the interference with everyone’s rights to go about their business unencumbered by being recorded? In some cases, it may be justified. In others, it won’t.
At present, the only basis for local authorities to deploy CCTV to detect illegal dumping is where that CCTV has first been authorised by the Garda Commissioner. In the cases referred to by the letter writer where the DPC reprimanded local authorities in relation to the use of CCTV to detect litter offenders, no such authorisation was in place. – Yours, etc,
GRAHAM DOYLE,
Deputy Commissioner,
Data Protection
Commission, Dublin 2.