THE DÁIL HAS heard there is “huge unease” in Louth over the fact that committees at which politicians and gardaí can discuss local policing priorities have been on hiatus for over a year, with no date set yet for them to be revived.

Sinn Féin has called on Minister for Justice Jim O’Callaghan to “get his act together” and set a date for the establishment of promised Community Safety Partnerships at which councillors, gardaí, community representatives and state agencies can address problems such as burglaries, anti-social behaviour and youth crime.

Sinn Féin TD for Louth Ruairí Ó Murchú told the Taoiseach last week that given recent violent assaults and arson attacks in Louth, a forum for engagement was needed. 

Ó Murchú told The Journal this weekend that Louth needed planning and co-ordination to address safety problems from low-level, chaotic crime related to addiction and poverty to organised criminality and drug dealing. He said that at present this work was “in limbo”.

“We need a forum where we can hold people to account but also have some sort of collegiate means of dealing with problems,” Ó Murchú said.

Louth’s Joint Policing Committee has not met in over a year. This is because the government is replacing these committees with a new structure, Local Community Safety Partnership.

In 2021 in response to drug dealing, organised crime and gangland feuding, the government published a plan to improve safety in Drogheda, Louth’s largest town. The plan’s implementation board was wound up in December, with the government stating that progress had been made.

Independent councillor and mayor of Drogheda Paddy McQuillan said Louth was “still waiting” for its community safety partnership, which like its predecessor would be a forum for community groups and organisations to give politicians and gardaí their perspective on what is happening locally.

Sinn Féin says that, in many areas, JPCs were not re-established after the local elections last summer in anticipation of the promised community safety partnerships.

However, the government is still drafting regulations on how these will operate. Justice minister Jim O’Callaghan told The Journal last week that the partnerships will commence “soon”, while his Department promised that the required regulations will be enacted “shortly”.

Cannabis and cocaine seized by gardaí in Ardee, Co Louth last week. An Garda Síochána An Garda Síochána

“There is huge unease about the fact the JPCs, are not meeting,” Ó Murchú told the Dáil.

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The Taoiseach responded that he acknowledged Ó Murchú’s views on the need for the community safety partnerships to be rolled out.

The new community safety partnership model has been trialled in three local authorities including Dublin city, where councillors have expressed deep concern over its effectiveness relative to the old Joint Policing Committee structure.

Ó Murchú told The Journal he shared concerns over the fact that members of the Oireachtas will no longer be members of the new community safety meetings, whereas they were able to engage with gardaí at the old Joint Policing Committees.

An evaluation of the pilot initiatives received low engagement from members of the new committees and uncovered both positive and negative views from those members who did respond.

Twenty pipe bombs were found in a garda search in Ardee, Co Louth yesterday linked to a drug seizure last month.

The Journal’s reporting of the new Local Community Safety Partnerships is supported by the Local Democracy Reporting Scheme.