Council to renew JPC efforts

Cllr. Brian McKeown has expressed his disappointment with how the Joint Policing Committee (JPC) plans are panning out, commenting at the June meeting of the town council that after a "big razzmatazz" where the JPC was being mooted as "the answer", there has been "just one meeting". Other members agreed. "We were told the committee would meet four times a year," said Cllr. Patricia Walsh. "There are a lot of issues out there and this is the forum to raise them." Cllr. Des Cullen noted the particular importance of the meetings given the number of festivals this year including the All-Ireland Fleadh. Chair of Cavan's JPC and newly elected chair of Cavan Town Council, Cllr. Paddy O'Reilly, said he found it "extremely frustrating trying to call meetings because of people not being available". Town clerk Brian Hora agreed it was "fair to say that [Cavan JPC] has lost momentum", and said there had been mixed levels of success in other parts of the country. Councillors agreed to meet in committee and schedule a JPC meeting. The purpose of the joint policing committees is to provide a forum where a local authority and the senior garda officers 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. Starting in 2006, the committees were established on a pilot basis in 29 local authority areas. Following evaluation of the pilot phase the roll-out of committees to all of the 114 city, county and town council areas was put in train in September 2008. Guidelines on the operation of the committees were made by the Minister for Justice and Law Reform, Dermot Ahern, TD, after consultation with the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government and the Minister for Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs.