Bobby Aylward (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fianna Fail)
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Question 315: To ask the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform when it is intended to establish the joint policing committee for Kilkenny City and County; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [30126/07]

Brian Lenihan Jnr (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)
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Joint Policing Committees provide a forum where a local authority and the senior Garda officers responsible for the policing of that local authority's area, with the participation of Oireachtas members and community interests, can consult, discuss and make recommendations on matters affecting the policing of the area. 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 me, 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 which will be established (there are 114 local authorities in total in the country), the Committees are being piloted in 29 local authority areas for a limited period under initial guidelines.

I plan 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 Ministerial colleagues. Before doing so, I consider that it would be useful to consider the experience gained in the operation of the 29 Committees currently established. As part of this process, the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government and I have decided to hold a consultation seminar on 29 November. The purpose of the seminar, which we 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 An 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 have been established last year and this year as part of the pilot phase have focused on the issues which they consider have the highest priority for them and on finding the most suitable methods of working. They have made good progress, and the discussion of their experience will contribute to the outcome of the consultation seminar.