Arthur Morgan (Louth, Sinn Fein)
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Question 393: To ask the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform when joint policing committees will be rolled out throughout the State and County Louth in particular; if County Louth will be considered for a single JPC or if several JPCs are envisaged for the county; when these decisions will be made and announced; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [5465/08]

Brian Lenihan Jnr (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)
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The Joint Policing Committees currently established in a pilot phase operate under revised guidelines issued by my predecessor as Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform in May 2007, following consultations with the Ministers for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government and Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs. The guidelines provide for a Committee for the Drogheda Borough Council area as part of the pilot phase. The purpose of the pilot phase is to gain experience from the operation of a number of Committees in a variety of local authority areas before rolling them out to all local authority areas in the State.

The experience gained from the operation of the Committees is currently being evaluated. As a first step in this evaluation my colleague the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government and I held a consultation seminar on 29 November, 2007 with participants in the pilot Committees to consider the lessons from their operation to date in preparation for the roll out. The seminar was a very useful exercise and following on from it work has commenced on revising the guidelines in the light of the experience gained to date. Following consultation with my Ministerial colleagues I intend to issue guidelines to enable the roll out of the Committees to take place as soon as possible. The Garda Síochána Act 2005 provides for the establishment of a Committee in each local authority area in the State. There will therefore be four Committees established in County Louth.