The pilots were touted in the aftermath of the November 2023 Dublin riots as a way of resolving the issues that lay behind that chaos, but it\u2019s in the library of Edgeworthstown, Co Longford, where a small group is trying to answer the questions at the start of this article for their local area.<\/p>\n
Janine Bartley, coordinator of the Local Community Safety Partnership, explained during our visit that one of the most challenging aspects of the group\u2019s work has been figuring out how to address people\u2019s perceptions of safety in their local area.<\/p>\n
![\"IMG_5422](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/1785099970_500_.jpeg\")
\n Janine Bartley, coordinator of the Longford local community safety partnership The Journal<\/p>\n
The Journal\n<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have to listen to what people say,\u201d Bartley said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe can tell them that the stats say Longford is relatively safe, but people\u2019s perception of crime is their reality. If people say, \u2018I don\u2019t feel safe and I\u2019m not going into town,\u2019 whether that\u2019s Longford, Edgeworthstown, or Granard, it\u2019s their experience, so we have to tackle that.\u201d<\/p>\n
But how do you do that?\n<\/p>\n
Council homes used as hubs<\/p>\n
In Longford, the partnership is trying to do this by coordinating important services in different communities, often honing in on specific housing estates.<\/p>\n
This has included securing a \u2018community house\u2019 in two different housing estates, Ardnacassa and Farnagh, in Longford town.<\/p>\n
The houses have been provided by Longford County Council, with funding for community groups looking to use the spaces also given by local arms of the Department of Health.<\/p>\n
They serve as a base for outreach for their immediate area but also house homework clubs and weekend cooking classes. Community groups and state agencies can book time there, rather than someone from the council being present full-time.<\/p>\n
The partnership is chaired by Seamus Boylan, a former senior garda in the county.<\/p>\n
Broadly, Boylan views Longford as a \u201cvery safe place to live\u201d but said the county has to deal with \u201cfeuds between people selling drugs, and family feuds\u201d.<\/p>\n
![\"IMG_5411](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/1785099971_300_.jpeg\")
\n Longford LCSP chair Seamus Boylan The Journal<\/p>\n
The Journal\n<\/p>\n
Bartley said the partnership is trying to \u201cfill a gap\u201d in family resource services in Longford by providing the houses.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere are complex issues in some of these areas,\u201d she said, \u201cbut putting more CCTV cameras or more guards on the beat is never going to solve all issues. These issues are systemic.\u201d<\/p>\n
When he was superintendent at Longford Garda Station, Boylan had direct experience of the old JPC model, which he described as a \u201ctalking shop\u201d at times.<\/p>\n
\u201cThings got done in some JPCS, some were better than others. But there is more emphasis here on going out to the community, finding out what the people want,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
This gets at what the Department of Justice hopes will be the key difference between the old and current structures. Where before there was an emphasis on crime, the new model sees An Garda S\u00edoch\u00e1na as only one of a number of state agencies around the table, joined by the HSE, Tusla and more.<\/p>\n
\u2018More proactive\u2019<\/p>\n
Boylan added that the use of the community houses has allowed agencies on the ground to be \u201cway more proactive\u201d in addressing local issues.<\/p>\n
\u201cBefore it was intelligence-based,\u201d Boylan said of garda knowledge of issues in various estates. \u201cI wouldn\u2019t say it was guesswork, but you weren\u2019t as well-informed as you are now.\u201d<\/p>\n
Fine Gael councillor Paul Ross, who used to sit on the old JPCs, also believes there have been significant strides made under this model.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s made me look beyond crime. Like every village has issues, but there can be a lot of background problems to\u00a0crime, whether it\u2019s\u00a0drug addiction or something else. The partnership tries to dig a bit deeper,\u201d Ross said.<\/p>\n
Racial issues<\/p>\n
A survey run by the Longford group raised the issues of race and discrimination, with\u00a0the results throwing up examples of people expressing discomfort with the \u201cchanging face\u201d of the county, explained Bartley.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThere are people that feel, \u2018I don\u2019t recognise everybody anymore\u2019. And Longford is an extremely diverse county, as we probably have more than 75 different nationalities here, so it is a fact that Longford is very diverse and changing \u2013 so how do we bridge that gap?\u201d<\/p>\n
She added that there is \u201cnegative and rhetoric\u201d on the issue, so the partnership is seeking to find ways to come at the issue.<\/p>\n
In Dublin, the original North Inner City pilot has concluded and the new programme is now up and running, with its own intentions to try and capture the full experience of non-white people in the capital.<\/p>\n
Janet Horner, a Green Party councillor sitting on the partnership, told The Journal about safety issues experienced by the migrant community.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI am hearing all the time of racist abuse and general fear,\u201d she said of contacts with migrant communities.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut I often ask people, did you report to the garda\u00ed? And people say no or that, if they did, nothing happened. With that in mind I think it would be really worthwhile to have a way to build a relationship with the garda\u00ed, notice the patterns and understand a bit better what\u2019s going on.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"download](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/1785099972_578_.jpeg\")
\n Green Party councillor in Dublin’s north inner city Janet Horner The Journal<\/p>\n
The Journal\n<\/p>\n
But overall, Horner summed up the experience on the LCSP as \u201cslow-moving and frustrating\u201d since she joined it.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve been through three years of a pilot that went nowhere so I need proof that this is going to go somewhere when we\u2019re putting time and effort in,\u201d Horner said.<\/p>\n
Horner and others in the Dublin have cited contact with garda\u00ed as remaining an issue.<\/p>\n
This is one of the issues surrounding the capacity for scrutiny under the new partnership model. Several of the local groups elsewhere in Ireland have opted to sit mainly in private for this year, following guidance from the Department of Justice, with media unable to attend any of the meetings bar one.<\/p>\n
The move has been widely criticised by the National Union of Journalists, media groups and politicians.\u00a0<\/p>\n
However, the three pilots, which are the most established groups to date, have all decided to hold their future meetings in public.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Hyper-local community work<\/p>\n
As with Longford and the North Inner City, the Waterford project is attempting to put a focus on specific areas.<\/p>\n
One of the big projects it undertook was a study of the north-west suburbs of Waterford city. Known as Carrickphierish, the area was once earmarked as the future of Waterford\u2019s expansion before the 2008 recession halted many construction ambitions.<\/p>\n
Some of these have hit the headlines in recent months, as when a balcony came apart from an apartment block<\/a> that had been blighted for years by structural issues. Two children were injured in the process.<\/p>\n A survey by the partnership of almost 80 locals found the area is viewed as lacking services and in need of development.<\/p>\n A 68-point action plan was developed as a result, touching on everything from developing community clubs to remote work offices, with the partnership now attempting to make this a key feature of its work.<\/p>\n