This article is from page 24 of the 2008-11-18 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 24 JPG
KILRUSH Superintendent Michael Comyns met with the members of Kilrush Town Council on Thursday last to discuss the future of the Joint Policing Committee (JPC) in the OD e0r
The Kilkee native told the mem- bers that they would drive the suc- cess and workings of the committee as the council makes up the biggest group in the 17 person committee.
JPCs have been set up nationally in accordance with the Garda Siochana Act 2005, which provides for such a committee in each local authority administrative area.
The purpose of these committees is to provide a forum where a local authority and the senior Garda of- ficers responsible for the policing of that area, with the participation of Oireachtas members and community interests, can consult, discuss and make recommendations on matters affecting the policing of the area. It is intended that the committees will be co-operative in nature and will Operate with the minimum of for- mality.
“One of the most important parts of the committee 1s the people from the community and people from the vol- untary organisations. The best thing is to pick from the widest spectrum
such as the youth group and older people,’ the newly appointed super- intendent advised.
“You can only have three from the voluntary and community sector. This is very small for an area like Kilrush so it 1s important to pick from a broad spectrum,” he added.
‘The town council will have a huge influence on the joint policing com- mittee. The biggest thing is that this is not a blame game,” he said.
“Things will go wrong but if every- one pulls together hopefully we will get it right.”
Supt Comyns told the council that the committee can have a huge input into law and order in the town.
“If there is a public premises acting outside the law we can discuss it here and we can send someone from the joint police committee to object to the licence,” he said.
While most committees are to be made up of three Oireachtas mem- bers, Kilrush will have just one due to the number of TDs in the constitu- ency.
Councillor Christy O’Malley (FF) pointed out to the meeting however that none of the four TDs in Clare could be considered local to west OE cer
The cost of this new committee is to be borne by the council and it must hold a public meeting once a year.