New Mayo policing committee is operating as a secret society claims councillor
Castlebar councillors call on Mayo LCSP to lift ban on local press attending meetings of new policing committee
A Mayo councillor has claimed that the new policing committee is acting like a secret society for not allowing members of the press to cover committee meetings.
Members of the Castlebar Municipal District called on the Chairman of the Local Community Safety Partnership (LCSP) to change their policy of barring members of the press from covering their meetings.
The Local Community Safety Partnership is a new, statutory, multi-agency body which replaced the Joint Policing Committees and brings together residents, community groups, state services such as Gardaí, HSE and Tusla, and local councillors to identify and address local safety issues.
After many months of delay the Mayo LCSP was finally formed earlier this year but they controversially voted to ban members of the press from covering meetings. The next meeting of the LCSP in Mayo is due to take place tomorrow, April 30 and in a recent secret poll of members of the LCSP, it was decided to continue to exclude the press.
At this afternoon's (Wednesday) monthly meeting of the Castlebar Municipal District, local councillors agreed to notify the Mayo LCSP chairman, Cllr Michael Loftus to call on the press ban to be lifted.
Independent councillor Michael Kilcoyne who is one of seven county councillors on the Mayo LCSP told the meeting that the ban on the press was not acceptable.
“There is widespread disillusionment that this [lCSP] is being conducted as a secret society with everything behind closed doors with no press. We as a municipal district should make our voices heard and say these meetings should be held in public.
“This is the type of thing they do in Russia where they sit around a table in a politburo . I feel serious about this and it is a major setback. We should write to the chairman saying members of this district are appalled these meetings are held behind closed doors,” Cllr Kilcoyne said.
Cllr Al McDonnell, who was also a member of the LCSP and the last chair of the old Mayo JPC, agreed that the JPC structure worked much better than the new structure.
Fine Gael councillor Donna Sheridan who is also a member of the LCSP said that banning the local press from these meetings means the public will not know what is happening.
“The press need to be at these meetings and it should not be us feeding back afterwards they should be there and it should be transparent. For democracy as a whole it is vital that we put our foot down now,” she said.
The LCSP in Mayo claimed that 'a moratorium' is in place on media attendance at meetings until such time as the Mayo LCSP plan has been adopted, which is expected to be at the end of 2026.
Cllr Blackie Gavin also questioned why there were only seven elected councillors on the LCSP. He too called for the press to attend meetings because the public had to know what is going on with policing in the county.