February 27th, 2004

Carlow has the Answer to Criminals - McDowell [Carlow Nationalist]

Justice Minister Michael McDowell believes a Carlow-based company pioneering a new approach to security monitoring could provide the answer to CCTV systems in Ireland.

The minister, who was paying a brief visit to Carlow described the security specialist company, Netwatch, which has its control centre on the Kernanstown Industrial Estate as 'an amazing company'.  The system it has devised incorporates advanced alarm technology with the most modern CCTV techniques.  It is an intelligent security system which allows the command centre at Kernanstown Industrial Estate to watch in 'real-time' the intrusion taking place at a premises, and, more importantly, to speak directly to criminals before they commit the crime.

When questions by Fine Gael Councillor Declan Alcock in relation to the provision of a CCTV system for Carlow, Minister McDowell replied that he was looking for a way to maximise the 'Garda Buck' and one way was a closer examination of the system devised by Netwatch.  'They have proposed a mixed system and I am open to doing that as a pilot project in its own right.  At the moment they are even monitoring companies in Northern Ireland, England, France and Spain over the internet'. "I want to talk to the gardaí and evaluate it and I also want to talk to the Town Council.  In a world of limited resources we have to get more for our Garda buck and this may be part of that answer", the minister stated.

The minister pointed out that, to date, four CCTV systems are in place with contracts awarded to another six, while another seven, one of which Carlow was one, was being examined.  However, he also stressed that to keep one Garda at a designated area for a constant period actually used a lot of vital man hours, which was where a company like Netwatch might prove very worthwhile.

The company has already made a presentation to Carlow Chamber of commerce with regard to providing a CCTV system for the streets of Carlow. "There is no limit to where we can cover" emphasised Netwatch Sales Director David Walsh.  "We can keep a premises or an area of a street under surveillance thought ISDN or if that is not possible by satellite so there is no limit to where we can go to provide a service", he added.