Tensions in Waterford as former councillor appointed to paid role on policing forum

Donal Murphy said the pilot policing project will be “dead in the water” unless relationships are repaired within the body

Tensions spilled over at a meeting last week when members questioned Waterford City and County Council’s appointment of Fianna Fáil councillor Eddie Mulligan as the new co-ordinator for the partnership — which is a paid full-time job — despite the fact Mr Mulligan had regularly criticised the dynamics of the group while he was sitting as a member.

A policing body in Waterford is at risk of losing community representatives to resignations, due to tensions surrounding the appointment of a former Fianna Fáil councillor as its new full-time paid co-ordinator, according to the vice-chair of the group.

Donal Murphy said the pilot policing project, known as the Community Safety Partnership (CSP) — one of three in the country — will be “dead in the water” unless relationships are repaired within the body.

“There needs to be respect shown to people giving up their time to do this work voluntarily, and there needs to be proper community involvement, which we don’t have,” said Mr Murphy, who is on the CSP through his membership of an umbrella community group called the Public Participation Network (PPN).

The partnership is made up of senior members of An Garda Síochána from the Waterford division, along with local authority and HSE officials. They meet with elected councillors and members of the public as part of the partnership’s work, with the latter grouping picked from the PPN.

The Department of Justice told the Irish Examiner it was “aware of the concerns” raised by members.

Conflict has arisen in recent months on the pilot project, which has sought to enhance the role of the non-elected members while decreasing the number of councillors on the body.

The CSP is one of three pilot projects — along with Longford and Dublin’s north inner city — formed to replace the existing joint policing committees to co-ordinate actions affecting policing and community issues.

Tensions spilled over at a meeting last week when members questioned Waterford City and County Council’s appointment of Fianna Fáil councillor Eddie Mulligan as the new co-ordinator for the partnership — which is a paid full-time job — despite the fact Mr Mulligan had regularly criticised the dynamics of the group while he was sitting as a member.

“The JPC was driven and controlled by the guards and the council,” Mr Murphy told the Irish Examiner. “The partnership needs to be community-led, otherwise it’s dead in the water. At the moment it’s us being whipped into line by Waterford Council and that can’t continue.” 

Mr Murphy said attempts to hold a meeting to discuss Councillor Mulligan’s appointment as co-ordinator were rejected by the council executive. He said Mr Mulligan had been “extremely critical of this group” and wondered how it would affect the CSP given his new role in the executive. 

What's your view on this issue?

You can tell us here

Mr Mulligan resigned as a councillor to take the one-year contract. However, Waterford council chairman Sean Aylward prevented the controversy from being discussed further, saying the “cohesion of the organisation” could be harmed by the discussion.

The council has stressed that, as Mr Mulligan is now a council employee, it would be inappropriate to discuss his appointment. It said he was next in line through a public service recruitment process, as he had originally applied for the role of co-ordinator, eventually taking a seat as an elected councillor.

A spokesperson for the Department of Justice said it was “aware of the concerns raised by members” of the partnership but had no role in addressing the appointment. They added that the three policing pilots will run until next year and “their evaluation will inform the best practice roll-out” of the CSP model to every local authority area.