Firstly sorry if this question is a bit long but there is a lot to explain.
I’m 16 and im in TY in secondary school, and my school has around 850 students.
The story is, we had a week off at the end of October, on returning to school, cctv cameras had been put into every single bathroom in the school, boys and girls. the cameras are placed up on the walls, and are the type that are circular shaped covered in a dark glass, so there is no way of knowing what way it is pointing. We were told they were installed to prevent bullying and vandalism. i havnt heard of any bullying taking place and the vandalism is only minor. we were also told they are pointing towards the sinks, and not the cubicles, but they are in the boys bathrooms as well, and the rooms are very small surely they are not legal. i wouldnt mind but most of the toilets dont even have toilet seats, or soap. and from what im told in the boys bathrooms they are pointing at or near the urinals.

Apparently, it took our principal a long time to convince the board of management to be able to put them in, and the thing that annoys me the most is he didnt consult the student council, who represent all students. he just told them he was installing them and said to not tell anyone. Parents werent told either.

My question is what do you think of this? is there anything in Irish law to say he can do this?

Most people i know think it is a complete invasion of privacy, there is already cameras in every hallway, is that not enough?
The students are protesting tomorrow,and the protest was approved by the parents association.
yup i do go tho clane.
it isnt rough at all. the protest didnt go too well….
i wasnt there but considering only around 150 protested and all 70 TY’s were on work experience all week, you can imagine what sort of people were protesting…many people that protested only wanted a day off school….
its only a small amount of people that cause the trouble.
Apparently the data protection commissioner contacted the principal today and tlold him to remove the cameras…and Batt o Keefe said on tv3 this evening it was wrong.
The principal should have consulted parents/students more before installing cameras.

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