Mayo's new policing body to hold first official meeting in January
Garda Commissioner Justin Kelly is to be invited to attend a meeting of Mayo County Council. Picture: Sam Boal/Collins Photos
The Garda Commissioner will be invited to a meeting of Mayo County Council where policing concerns in the county can be aired.
Fianna Fáil councillor Michael Loftus aims to table a motion for the next meeting of the local authority calling on the new Commissioner Justin Kelly to attend a monthly meeting of the council.
Cllr Loftus is calling on the commissioner to reinstate Mayo as a stand-alone Garda Division and take action on the deficit of Garda members in the county. The Mayo Garda Division was amalgamated with Roscommon/Longford in 2022 with the move described as a failure by local representatives.
“We want the Mayo Garda Division back,” said Cllr Loftus. “When you go from Granard to Belmullet you are talking about 250km. It’s way too big an area. We have the longest coastline and it’s open to drugs which is the scourge of communities,” he added.
Cllr Loftus raised this issue and the lack of new Garda recruits for Mayo with Justice Minister Jim O’Callaghan during his recent visit to Ballina.
“When we had the Commissioner down here before he said there were going to be 600 new Guards in Ireland and yet we had 580 retirements. That’s not good enough really.
“We see 80 new Guards going to Dublin in the latest tranche and none to Mayo. A reserve Garda went to Castlebar and that was it,” he added.
Cllr Loftus took his party’s Justice Minister and Minister Dara Calleary to task over their decision to allow the dissolution of Joint Policing Committees (JPC). The committees have been replaced by Local Community Safety partnerships.
“I call a spade a spade and I said to both Dara and Jim O’Callaghan that they were in the Dáil when the JPCs were abolished. They were there when the legislation was going though and could have stopped the JPC’s being abolished but they didn’t,” said Cllr Loftus.
The Dáil initially agreed that only three sitting councillors would sit on the new partnerships but in the Senate that was amended to seven.
“We are not happy with the situation, but we are going to work with it going forward, “ said Cllr Loftus.
An introductory Local Community Safety Partnership meeting recently took place in Mayo. There are expected to be 30 representatives on the partnership consisting of community members, local councillors, statutory services, and the community and voluntary sector.
The first official meeting of the partnership is expected to take place at the end of January when a chair and vice-chair will be appointed. A town hall style meeting is also set to take place during the 12-month term of the committee.
Cllr Loftus told the that he will be seeking the position of chair. He also believes the establishment of sub-committees may be necessary given the make up of the partnership.
“We are going to have to come up with our own plan in our own area,” he stated.
It is understood that media presence at the meetings is at the discretion of the chair.
