Ned O'Keeffe (Cork East, Fianna Fail)
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Question 109: To ask the Minister for Justice and Law Reform when a committee (details supplied) will be established. [43387/10]

Dermot Ahern (Louth, Fianna Fail)
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Joint policing committees are provided for in the Garda Síochána Act 2005. Their purpose is to provide a forum where An Garda Síochána and the local authority - the two organisations which make the most significant contribution to preventing and tackling crime in a specific area - can come together, with the participation of members of the Oireachtas and community and voluntary interests, on matters affecting their area.

On 24 September 2008, I launched, with my colleague the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, guidelines for the committees, which took into account the experience gained during a pilot phase and which provided for the establishment of committees in all 114 local authority areas by the relevant local authority and the Garda Commissioner. Paragraph 3.2 of the guidelines provides that a local authority shall, after consultation with the Garda Commissioner or an officer authorised by him or her to consult with the local authority, by resolution establish a committee.

An Garda Síochána is in contact at local level with the local authority in the location referred to and will jointly establish the committee when the local authority is in a position to do so, following the passing by it of the necessary resolution.