Justice Minister only interested in Dublin policing say Mayo councillors

MAYO councillors have called for the Minister for Justice to attend their monthly meeting after he was accused of only being concerned about policing in Dublin.

The invitation to the Minister of Justice, Jim O'Callaghan, to attend the monthly meeting of Mayo County Council was extended by his Fianna Fáil colleague, Cllr Michael Loftus who was critical of the Government's approach to policing.

The Crossmolina-based councillor was critical that the new Local Community Safety Partnership (LCSP), which replaced the Joint Policing Committee (JPC) had not been set up in Mayo and also questioned their worth after they were piloted in Dublin, Longford and Waterford.

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“In this area we don't have one in place or the regulations in place for the Local Community Safety Partnership in Mayo and I question the idea behind it,” he said.

“Recently there was a report done by the University of Limerick in relation to the ones [LCSP] in Longford, Waterford and Dublin and the conclusion of those was that they were ineffective. An opportunity to let the gardaí off the hook is what they said. And yet this is being driven by the department.”

Cllr Loftus also raised the concerns of the Association of Garda Sergeants and Inspectors who stated that the future of policing in Ireland is not working and garda numbers in rural areas were being diluted.

“I blame this on the Minister for Justice and the previous Minister for Justice [Helen McEntee] for driving this forward. The only place he thinks of is Dublin and there is no place outside Dublin that he actually cares about.

“I have a serious issue with that and I call for the reinstatement of the JPCs. I want an invitation sent to Jim O'Callaghan, the minister, to come down here to us for the May meeting with the Chief Superintendent to explain what he proposes to do in relation to this,” he said.

Interviews for the position of Chairperson of the Mayo LCSP had taken place but the meeting heard that the decision to appoint a chairperson has been 'set aside' by the Department and the new chair will be chosen whenever the committee meets.

“This is an attempt by the Department of Justice to stall this whole thing,” said Cllr Michael Kilcoyne who raised the matter.

“There was time spent doing interviews and now all of this has been set aside. Whenever there is a committee being set up into the distant future and maybe in the lifetime for this council, they will elect their own chairperson,” he said and this was confirmed by the Chief Executive, Kevin Kelly.

Ballinrobe-based Fianna Fáil councillor Damien Ryan also called for the Minister to attend the Mayo meeting and if he fails to do so, a delegation should meet him.

He too called for the reinstatement of the JPC saying it was one arm of local government which 'worked famously well' and it needs to be brought back.

“The emphasis certainly after the riots in Dublin, was on drafting all numbers into the capital to make it safe. My understanding is that has well and truly been achieved and the overwhelming majority of the people who came out of Templemore went to Dublin and the greater Dublin area. The rural areas have suffered as a result,” he said.

The meeting was also told that Chief Superintendent Ray McMahon who is responsible for policing in the Mayo, Roscommon, and Longford Garda Divisions will be in a position to attend the May monthly meeting of the council and he would be happy to attend.