Sir, – Jack White’s report on trees vandalised in Dodder Valley Park (“Residents ‘devastated’ after 40 trees cut down or broken overnight in Dublin park”, April 20th) notes that CCTV was installed in the park by South Dublin County Council to monitor antisocial behaviour but had to be removed after the Data Protection Commissioner said the council had no role in policing antisocial behaviour as it is a Garda function.
When is this lunacy emanating from the Data Protection Commissioner’s office going to stop? Every garage forecourt in the country, practically every shop as well as other public areas, never mind private homes, have CCTV cameras to monitor antisocial behaviour.
For the Data Commissioner to suggest that a local authority has no right to use common sense, in this case CCTV, to monitor areas subject to the type of behaviour that saw up to 40 trees vandalised last weekend is not just laughable, it’s madness. – Yours, etc,
NOEL HOWARD,
Reforming the planning laws: ‘It was never going to be a short-term solution to the housing problem’
Louise Lawless: Girls’ participation in sport falls off a cliff in their teens. The skorts row shows why
I came of age in the Tinder era. There was no escape from online dating for Celtic Tiger cubs like me
Gerry Adams defamation trial: laughs from the jury, a judge’s intervention and a ‘very fine story’ about a hedgehog
Kilworth,
Co Cork.
