05-05-2025
Councillors flag fears with Department of Justice over government scrapping local policing fora
DUBLIN CITY COUNCILLORS from across the political spectrum have raised serious concerns with the Department of Justice about the government's decision to scrap local committees charged with holding gardaí accountable.
Politicians from both government and opposition parties told two senior Department of Justice officials they did not support the government's decision to scrap Joint Policing Committees, at a meeting in Dublin city's civic offices last month.
The government is replacing Joint Policing Committees with a more collaborative model, Local Community Safety Partnerships (LCSPs), which it says is part of a 'whole of government' approach to community safety. Gardaí will now be just one of a number of state agencies at the table, along with community representatives and some politicians.
Fine Gael councillor Ray McAdam said concerns were raised at the meeting about the perceived ineffectiveness of the new approach and about the erosion of democratic accountability: TDs, Senators and many councillors will no longer have a seat at the table from which to engage with gardaí responsible for policing in their area in the new LCSPs.
'People's views were very pessimistic,' McAdam said, adding that the general view expressed at the meeting by councillors was that 'we were trying to reinvent the wheel when it was unnecessary to do so'.
Green Party councillor Janet Horner said she and other councillors told the meeting that while the theory of a more collaborative approach to community safety 'sounds great', the practical experience in Dublin's north inner city where the approach has been trialled has been 'quite troubling'.
Labour councillor Dermot Lacey said the new structure is 'fundamentally undemocratic', reducing the role of elected members and increasing the power of statutory bodies, eroding the already very limited powers of local government.
'The HSE and Tusla are being given the same status as elected representatives. They are public bodies that should be answerable and accountable to elected representatives. Imagine the HSE sitting around the table at the Oireachtas Health Committee as equal members,' Lacey said.
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Minister for Justice Jim O'Callaghan told
The Journal
this week that he understood Dublin councillors' concerns over the scrapping of Joint Policing Committees – but did not agree with them.
Since 2006, Joint Policing Committees have convened councillors and local members of the Oireachtas, along with senior gardaí and community representatives, to discuss local policing needs and priorities.
By contrast with the Joint Policing Committees' focus on the work of gardaí, the new LCSPs' remit – community safety – is broader and the approach more holistic, with An Garda Síochána only one of a number of state agencies around the table.
Horner said state agencies who will be involved in the new committee should be required to appoint officials with control over budget as members.
'Once money is on the table, people get more interested in the outcomes of the project,' she said.
McAdam said he and other councillors familiar with the Dublin's north inner city raised concerns that the inclusion of other state agencies such as the HSE n the new structure could be a 'box-ticking exercise' for the relevant officials, rather than a meaningful form of engagement.
Minister defends decision
Asked about Dublin councillors' concerns this week, Minister for Justice Jim O'Callaghan said the new local partnerships would commence 'soon' and would offer interagency coordination to address the 'social issues' affecting community safety.
'It won't just be guards and councillors. It will be guards, councillors, the HSE, Tusla – a wide group of people who will be able to address the broader social issues,' O'Callaghan said.
It's understood O'Callaghan's officials told the recent meeting that some changes to the government plan are likely, including that the chairs of the new LCSPs will be elected by the members of the committees, rather than being appointed by the Department of Justice as originally planned.
The Department of Justice said LCSPs will 'build on the good work of the Joint Policing Committees', and go further than their predecessors by 'bringing together a broader range of relevant stakeholders' including resident; representatives of young people, older people, new and minority communities; business and education representatives.
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The government is quietly scrapping local committees charged with holding gardaí accountable
Policing is only one factor in community safety, the Department said, the LCSPs will allow a 'broader focus'.
Councillor McAdam said that at the Dublin meeting concerns were also raised with the Department officials as to the level of involvement of the Minister for Justice in the new community safety approach, which will be managed by a new community safety office within his department.
'What engagement will the minister have with the community safety office? Is this going to be an arm's length approach for the minister?' McAdam said.
Sinn Féin councillor Daithí Doolan said he shared concerns about the new LCSP but added that it's no important for councillors to 'squeeze every ounce of potential out of these new structures'.
'We don't have the luxury to sit back and wish it away. Whether I like it or not they are arriving. The legislation is passed,' Doolan said.
The Department of Justice said: 'The objective is to bring the relevant bodies, including the Gardaí, together with communities in a collaborative manner, by focusing on the concerns identified and prioritised by local people, and incorporating these concerns into tailored Local Community Safety Plans with agreed actions to be undertaken by members of the partnerships to enhance community safety in that area.'
Additional reporting by Muiris Ó Cearbhaill.
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