Conor Lenihan (Dublin South West, Fianna Fail)

I thank the Senator for raising this matter on the Adjournment. The Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform is unable to be present owing to other business. I assure the Senator that the Minister is giving priority to establishing a joint policing committee in each local authority area.

These committees provide a forum whereby members of a local authority and the senior Garda officers responsible for policing the local authority's area, along with Oireachtas Members and community and voluntary interests, can consult, discuss and make recommendations on matters affecting policing of the community. These committees should make policing more responsive to community needs and should make the job of the Garda Síochána in tackling particular problems easier by providing a forum for co-operation with all the interests involved. The establishment of these committees has great potential to ensure that policing is responsive to local needs. The committees are provided for by the Garda Síochána Act 2005 and operate under guidelines issued by the Minister, after consultation with the Ministers for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government and Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs. In view of the innovative nature of the committees and the number that will be established in the 114 local authorities in the country, the committees are being piloted in 29 local authority areas for a limited period under initial guidelines.

Committees have been established in the following local authority areas: Dublin, Cork, Galway, Limerick and Waterford city councils, counties Offaly and Wicklow and their associated town council areas, Birr, Edenderry, Tullamore, Arklow, Bray, Greystones and Wicklow town, counties Fingal, Kerry and south Dublin, Clonmel, Drogheda and Sligo borough councils and Athy, Ballinasloe, Cavan, Carrick-on-Suir, Letterkenny, Mallow, New Ross, Tralee and Tuam town councils. These cover a broad range of the types of local authorities in the country. Special provision was made for Dublin city because of the size of the administrative area and the guidelines provide for the establishment of five sub-committees corresponding to the city's local areas.

A committee has a range of functions and monitors two broad areas. The first is the levels and patterns of crime, disorder and anti-social behaviour in its area, including patterns and levels of misuse of alcohol and drugs. The second is the broader issue of the factors underlying and contributing to crime, disorder and anti-social behaviour. It advises the local authority and the Garda Síochána on how they might best perform their functions, having regard to the need to do everything feasible to improve the safety and quality of life and to prevent crime, disorder and anti-social behaviour in the area. A committee also arranges and hosts public meetings periodically on matters affecting the policing of the local authority area. A committee can establish, in consultation with the local Garda superintendent, local policing fora to discuss and make recommendations to the committee on matters affecting the neighbourhood. The committees operating in the pilot phase are not establishing these local fora. This will occur after the pilot period.

The Minister has stated previously that he wants to foster a spirit of partnership in tackling crime. That is why he is giving priority to establishing a joint policing committee in each local authority area. He plans to provide for the establishment of a committee in each local authority area in the State as early as possible in 2008, following consultation with my two ministerial colleagues. Before doing so, it would be useful to consider the experience gained from the 29 committees currently established.

As part of this process, the Minister and the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government have decided to hold a consultation seminar on 29 November. The purpose of the seminar, which they will attend, will be to consider the lessons from the operation of the pilot committees. The outcomes of the seminar will be used in the process of preparing the guidelines under which the committees will be rolled out to all local authority areas. It is planned to invite representatives of the participants in the committees, which will include members of the Garda Síochána, the relevant local authorities and the Oireachtas and representatives of the community and voluntary sector, as well as of the representative associations for local authority members and city and county managers.

The committees which were established last year and this year as part of the pilot phase have focused on the highest priority issues and on finding the most suitable methods of working. They have made good progress and the discussion of their experience will make an important contribution to the outcome of the consultation seminar. The Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform and the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government will provide financial assistance for the general support of the committees. It is envisaged that this will cover such areas as training and development, travel expenses for representatives of the community and voluntary sector on the committees and a contribution towards support for staffing for the committees in the larger local authority areas. Provision is made in the Garda Síochána Vote and by the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government for this assistance. While none of this funding has yet been drawn down by the committees, this has not restricted their operation.

During the pilot phase, discussions between the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government and the office for local authority management have taken place on a number of matters, including the use of funding available, relating to the operation of the committees. The Minister's Department is in close contact, on a continuing basis, with the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government on all matters concerning these committees. A meeting will take place in the near future between the two Departments, the County and City Managers Association and the office for local authority management to discuss a range of issues relating to the committees, including utilisation of the funding available. If it is believed necessary, consideration will be given to retrospective support.

The Minister expects that any outstanding issues will be resolved, particularly in the roll-out of the committees. Based on the experience gained by the committees in the pilot phase, he looks forward to rolling them out to every local authority in the State in the near future.