Minutes of Council meetings- list.:

MINUTES OF PROCEEDINGS AT SPECIAL COMMITTEE MEETING OF THE COBH TOWN COUNCIL, HELD AT TOWN HALL, COBH, ON MONDAY 17^TH JANUARY 2005.

Presiding - Cllr D. Crowley

Present - Cllrs. P. Histon, S. Meade, K McCarthy, J Mulvihill, P Whitty, M. Keating & N. Doyle

OFFICIALS PRESENT

Mr. K. Sugrue, A/Town Manager

Mr. P. Lynch - Town Clerk.

In Attendance – Superintendent P Sheehan and Sergeant P. Coomey.

An apology for his inability to attend was received from Cllr Sean O’Connor.

1.ATTENDANCE BY SUPERINTENDENT SHEEHAN, COBH GARDAÍ.

Cllr Crowley welcomed the Superintendent to the meeting.He stated that it was the first opportunity for the new council to formally meet with the Superintendent. Cllr Mulvihill stated that the Garda Síochána bill provided for county policing bodies and that there would be representation by the town council on this board.He stated that he also felt that any problems with public order appeared to be hyped in the media; he stated that the media had created a perception that Cobh was a dangerous place.

The Superintendent stated that there were almost 300 public order offence arrests in 2004 in Cobh.He stated that this was largely down to active policing of public order in the Cobh area.Superintendent Sheehan raised the issue of the power granted to local authorities under the Intoxicating Liquor act 2003 in relation to special exemption orders.

Cllr Doyle stated that she felt that close links between schools and individual Gardaí were very important.She stated that it appeared that these close links no longer appeared to be as strong as previously.She felt it was important to build relations between schools children and local Gardaí.Superintendent stated that he had asked Sergeant Quinn to arrange for regular contact between Gardaí and the schools.He also stated that a number of Gardaí were involved in various youth activities in the town of Cobh.He agreed that it was important to maximise links between the Gardaí and the youth of the community.In relation to Cllr Mulvihill’s points concerning the joint policing body, he stated that he would like to see the setting up of a joint policing body on a non-statutory basis before the act came in. He stated that this body could then set targets for the Gardaí and for the Local Authority.

Cllr Crowley stated that he supported the issue of Gardaí visiting the schools on a more regular basis.He stated that he also felt that the idea of an open day at the Garda Station would be very helpful.The Superintendent stated that he was anxious that the archway between the two squares would be closed at an early date.The Town Clerk stated that the Council had taken a decision previously to deal with this matter and it would be resolved shortly.

The Superintendent also raised concerns over the operating hours of fast food outlets in the town, both fixed outlets and casual traders.The Town Clerk stated that the fast food outlets for which planning permission had been granted in recent years were obliged to stick to the planning conditions to specific opening hours.He also stated that the Council had commenced a review of the casual trading bylaws, and that the view of the Gardaí in relation to the bylaws would be welcomed.Cllr Crowley advised the Superintendent that the Council had also commenced the process of reviewing the pay parking bylaws and the taxi bylaws and that the views of the Gardaí on these issues, would be welcomed.

In relation to the joint policing body Cllr Mulvihill asked the Superintendent for his view on a proposal that three members of the Council would be nominated to meet with the Gardaí on a regular basis.The Superintendent agreed that this would be a welcome development.

Cllr Crowley then thanked the Superintendent and Sergeant Coomey for attending the meeting and the Superintendent and Sergeant Coomey withdrew.

On the proposal of Cllr Keating, seconded by Cllr Doyle it was agreed that Cllr Crowley would be a member of the informal working group with the Gardaí.

On the proposal of Cllr Crowley, seconded by Cllr Histon it was agreed that Cllr Mulvihill would be a member of the group.

On the proposal of Cllr Keating, seconded by Cllr Histon, it was agreed that Cllr McCarthy would be a member of the group.

On the proposal of Cllr Mulvihill, seconded by Cllr Crowley, it was agreed that Cllr Doyle would be a member of the group.

2.REVIEW OF BYELAWS.

The Town Clerk advised the members that he had placed an advert in the local press in relation to the proposal to review the taxi byelaws, the casual trading byelaws and the parking byelaws.He stated that the three sets of byelaws would be on public display for a period of 4 –5 weeks and that a further period of 2 weeks was being allowed for submissions to be received.It was agreed that the matter would be considered further at future meeting of the Council.

This concluded the business of the meeting.