No local policing meeting held in South Dublin County Council for a year
South Dublin County Council (SDCC) has not held an official meeting on policing or safety in over a year, it has emerged.
One councillor said local policing meetings have come to a “standstill”, which is leading to a culture of fear among some constituents.
Last year, the Department of Justice announced it was replacing monthly Joint Policing Committees (JPCs), a forum for councillors, businesses and An Garda Síochána to discuss local security matters.
Instead, it was setting up Local Community Safety Partnerships (LCSPs) to work within each local authority.
However, a delay in setting this up has meant that no official meetings around local policing have taken place in SDCC since June last year.
“I put in a motion at a local area committee in January this year asking for a task force for the Balgaddy area in Clondalkin,” said Niamh Fennell, Sinn Fein councillor for the Palmerstown-Fonthill area.
“What I heard back was that they’re setting up an LCSP and they were waiting for an approval from the Ministry around this.
“In April, I contacted the council again to see what progress had been made. They said we would be notified when it’s been set up. It’s been four months now.
“The old one (JPCs) would have been disbanded prior to the local election in June – that was more than a year ago. There have been no official meetings around local policing since.
“People are frightened, people are scared. At the moment, it feels like things are at a standstill. To try and get anything done feels like screaming into oblivion.”
Cllr Fennell said safety measures, like installing CCTV cameras, cannot be put in place in the absence of a new forum.
“To be honest, the only people you can turn to are the guards. They have a good relationship with the people in my constituency,” she said.
“But [some] people are afraid to open up to anyone, especially authority figures.”
With concerns around violent attacks and hate crimes on the rise in some areas, councillor Fennell believes more local support is necessary.
“Right now, there isn’t any support locally, it’s shameful. People have been wondering what’s going on. We’re their representatives, they’re asking us what can be done,” she said.
In the absence of a task force or regular meetings, anti-social behaviour teams working with SDCC have held meetings with constituents.
“SDCC set up clinics in some local areas. However, in the North Clondalkin Safety Forum that I sit on, there hasn’t been any uptake from tenants, they haven’t come along to those meetings,” councillor Fennell said.
LCSPs will work like a multi-agency umbrella body bringing together different safety and policing teams to respond faster to community issues.
“I do think once this type of forum is set up, there is a lot that can be done. Representatives from different areas can be more involved,” councillor Fennell said.
“But it’s very hard to see if it will be more beneficial without it running yet. It needs to be quicker.”
South Dublin City Council has been contacted for comment.