Call for new Safety Partnership commitment for Louth to be matched with action

Louth Fine Gael TD, Deputy Paula Butterly, has welcomed news that Minister for Justice, Jim O’Callaghan TD, has signed new regulations that come into effect immediately, paving the way for the establishment of the LCSPs in Local authorities across the country, but said that it is now essential that funding is committed and provided to enable proper establishment.

The community partnerships across 36 Local Authorities, covering every local authority area will serve as multi-agency structures bringing together key stakeholders including An Gardai Siochana, local residents, businesses, state agencies and community groups.

Deputy Butterly told the Dundalk Democrat in a statement that she has "consistently called for a Community Safety Partnership because the challenges our communities face cannot be solved in isolation. “Only by coming together—sharing information, coordinating responses, and working strategically can we create lasting change.” 

The Louth TD went on to say that "in recent years we have seen a shift in the manner of crime being committed within the county. We have seen gangland and rural crime, not to mention drug crime within the county devastating communities and trying to tear them apart.

Read also: Louth County Council meets with Dundalk councillors over Blackrock Beach concerns

"The community spirit in county Louth is very strong despite the challenges faced in recent decades. The establishment of the new local community safety partnerships, LCSPs, is not only crucial to towns like Drogheda and Dundalk, but also to Ardee and Dunleer in their hinterlands, as well as the smaller villages like Castlebellingham, Tallanstown and Louth.

“Last week at the joint committee meeting on Justice, I proposed to Minister O’Callaghan the idea of establishing a centralised fund to support the community partnerships in addition to the grants that may be available to individual groups”.

“If we are serious about making our communities safer, then funding must match the level of commitment. We cannot ask services to do more with less,” Deputy Butterly added. “Real investment is needed to deliver real impact.”

"We must make sure that work is followed through and local authorities begin the process of establishing their LCSPs, identifying members and laying the groundwork for the community safety plans involving collaboration between statutory and community partners.

“This marks a transformative step forward in how we approach community safety from a policing dominated approach to a participatory and preventative framework”.