Croke Park now has one of the most high-tech security systems in the country.
Installed at a cost of almost one million euro, the sophisticated security system keeps a discreet but watchful eye on people both inside and outside the stadium. It would not be possible to operate matches and concerts here without it, maintains events and facilities manager Seamus Ó Midheach,
It isn’t your average eighteen acres.
The CCTV (closed circuit television) covers every inch of the stadium and streets around it, and can also take a feed from the Garda helicopter camera above Croke Park.
It allows Gardaí to respond in the most appropriate way in an emergency, as Sergeant Barry Moore from Fitzgibbon Street Garda Station explains,
If we have a problem with someone injured or sick we can get someone to them very quickly.
GAA executives who need to review events can also log onto this digital system from their desktop computer explains Michael Fenton Chairman of Omada Fire and Security Group.
By the end of this month when the installation is complete, Croke Park will have a total of two hundred cameras monitoring its patrons, players and staff. The cameras can operate around the clock, three hundred and sixty five days a year.
An RTÉ News report broadcast on 4 August 2004. The reporter is Paul Reynolds.