A request has been sent to the Department of Justice to pay for CCTV cameras to monitor ‘boy racers’ destroying roundabouts near Emo.
Transport Infrastructure Ireland (TII) turned down the request to erect cameras on roundabouts along the Emo exit off the M7 motorway. Now, Laois County Council want to ask the justice department for funding for the CCTV plan.
Cllr Tom Mulhall complained about joyriders driving onto roundabouts and tearing up grass at the Emo exit.
Last March, he asked the county council to contact TII about erecting cameras at the site.
“They spent a lot of money on these roundabouts but these roundabouts but the problem is joyriders and acts of vandalism. The road is scenic and the roundabouts are very well kept, but joyriders come along and spin around them during the night,” he told the latest meeting of the Graiguecullen-Portarlington Municipal District.
“They are not seen and it’s only when residents get up in the morning that they see the damage,” he added.
Defensive measures
“There’s no point in TII spending money rolling and reseeding grass, because these boy racers will come back having fun and tearing it up in the middle of the cameras, there will have to be some kind of defensive measures,” he said.
The TII response was read out at the May monthly district meeting stated that cameras are only installed for traffic-management purposes.
Due to a high demand for funding, there are no plans to erect more cameras.
Cllr Mulhall proposed that the council write to the department with a request for funding for cameras on the Emo exit.
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