A community representative on the Castlebar joint policing committee was persuaded to reconsider his decision to resign at this week’s meeting by his fellow members.
Rod O’Connor from Riverdale Court in Castlebar had served on the committee since its inception in 2009, but due to ongoing frustrations with Garda representatives Mr O’Connor felt he was left with no option but to resign.
He told Monday’s meeting that on November 7 2011 the committee members were told by Superintendent Peter O’Boyle that the gardaí would no longer tolerate issues to be raised at meetings without prior notice. Mr O’Connor also explained that he took exception to a second comment made by the superintendent, that the meetings were in danger of being hijacked.
The dispute stemmed from a meeting in July 2011 when Mr O’Connor had made comments about underage drinking in Castlebar. He told the meeting that gardaí needed to get on top of the underage drinking situation in the town before some young person was found dead.
Following this meeting Mr O’Connor was called to Castlebar Garda Station by Inspector Martin Byrne (now retired ) to discuss his comments. Mr O’Connor told the inspector he was sorry if he had given the wrong impression of what gardaí were doing in relation to underage drinking in Castlebar and that was not his intention. He was informed by the inspector that the gardaí needed advance warning of issues that were going to be raised at future meetings so they could offer an informed response.
On September 15, in advance of the scheduled October 2011 meeting, Mr O’Connor wrote to Inspector Byrne highlighting a number of issues he wanted to discuss. The information pertained to two Garda patrols in the town the previous night when two underage discos were taking place. The October meeting was subsequently deferred until November, giving the Garda 54 days’ notice to prepare its response. It was at that meeting that Superintendent O’Boyle made the comments to which Mr O’Connor took offence.
This resulted in Mr O’Connor writing a letter of complaint to Garda Commissioner Martin Callinan in April of this year. In July he received a reply from Chief Superintendent Tom Curly noting the contents of the July letter. The chief superintendent said: “I have communicated with Superintendent Peter O’Boyle in relation to your concerns and he has assured me that his phrase ‘hi-jacking’ was used in the context that it would have been desirable if agreed procedures had been adhered to in accordance with Section 36 of the Garda Siochana Act, 2005 and in particular that members of the committee should be given sufficient notice ‘to gather the necessary information’ to allow for an informed and accurate reply to the particular issue.”
Speaking to the Mayo Advertiser after last Monday’s meeting Mr O’Connor said he intends to reply to the chief superintendent’s letter informing him of his decision to resign and requesting a meeting with him.
The crux of the problem according to Mr O’Connor is that if someone approaches him before a meeting with a problem, he cannot raise it at the meeting because the gardaí insist that they be contacted in private first in order for them to prepare a response. However the next meeting of the committee might not be for another three months and Mr O’Connor said this system was unacceptable.
