Alan Shatter (Dublin South, Fine Gael)

I agree with what the Deputy has said. That is my experience, having sat briefly on one of these committees, that it depends on the Garda and the councillors. The councillors may have choices in the context of how these committees work. They can constructively engage with the Garda and come forward with suggestions in regard to policing in local communities that are generally beneficial and, on the Garda side, if there is openness they will engage. Alternatively, councillors can just use the committees to table a motion or a question to get a written reply, not engage particularly, and send the reply out to their constituents.

The first type of engagement, where there is a dialogue between councillors representing local communities and the local gardaí working on the ground and where there is a degree of openness between the two in problem solving, is most valuable. I hope the review being conducted will provide a greater insight into this and might assist the workings of the committees, where there is a perception that some are not working particularly well, and will feed into the need for any changes that may be made to the guidelines.

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