Nationwide rollout of Local Community Safety Partnerships must be prioritised – O’Shea

If the Rural Safety Plan is to succeed Local Community Safety Partnerships must be in place nationwide by the end of the year, said a Fine Gael TD.

Deputy John Paul O’Shea said the announcement of a new Rural Safety Plan will come as a welcome relief to communities across Ireland, but as part of this we must guarantee that Local Community Safety Partnerships (LCSPs) are at work.

“It’s fantastic to see today’s announcement of a Rural Safety Plan. It is essential that community collaboration is at the heart of making our communities safer, right across the country”, said Deputy O’Shea.

“This plan is ensuring everything can be done to make rural Ireland safer, from having more visible Gardaí in the community to providing safe public spaces and amenities.

“We all know the importance of ensuring people feel safe in their community. That’s why we need to see the rollout of all 36 LCSPs nationwide by the end of the year, as committed in the plan.

“In June regulations came into effect to get these groups in place, but we need to see more of these set up so we can achieve the aims of the Rural Safety Plan. As Joint Policing Committees have wrapped up their work, there is a real need to get these partnerships in place.

“These partnerships will allow local people and organisations to create plans to address the specific issues in their community at a local level. I’m glad to see that many local authorities are beginning work on getting these partnerships together and hope that more local authorities are working on this.

“To achieve the aims set out in the Rural Safety Plan it is key that we get LCSPs in place nationwide as soon as possible. We have to bring local stakeholders to the table to tackle local problems with local solutions.

“We know that this plan has the potential to be hugely beneficial for rural Ireland, but to ensure success we urgently need to see these LCSPs set up right across the country,” concluded Deputy O’Shea.