Sligo LCSP Meeting Minutes

Minutes of Sligo Local Community Safety Partnership (LCSP) Meeting held at 4.00pm on Monday 23rd March, 2026 in The Council Chamber, County Hall, Riverside, Sligo


Members Present

  • Cllr. Marie Casserly (Chair)
  • Cllr. Arthur Gibbons
  • Cllr. Thomas Walsh
  • Cllr. Donal Gilroy
  • Cllr. Dara Mulvey
  • Cllr. Liam Brennan
  • Cllr. Edel McSharry
  • Martin Lydon
  • Tom Colsh
  • Cara O’Neill
  • Edel Doran
  • Caitriona Sinnott
  • Geraldine Brennan
  • Marie Brennan
  • Kira Smith
  • Caroline Forde
  • Chris MacManus
  • Pippa Black (Vice Chair)
  • Mr. John Feerick 

 

Quorum

Yes

 

In Attendance

  • Mr. Brian Flynn, Director of Services
  • Ms. Margaret McConnell, Senior Executive Officer
  • Ms. Mairéad Clerkin, LCSP Co-Ordinator
  • Garda Terry Coleman, An Garda Síochána
  • Garrett McDermott, LCSP Administrator
  • Gerard O’Grady, HSE
  • Garda Terry Coleman, An Garda Síochána

 

Apologies

  • Michael Barret,
  • Deirdre Kelly
  • Cllr. Gerry Mullaney,
  • Mabel Chah,
  • Bernadette Maughan,
  • Marie Richardson,
  • Elizabeth Bartlett,
  • Bernadette Comiskey

 

Cllr. Marie Casserly, Chairperson welcomed everyone to the meeting and noted apologies.

1. Confirmation of Minutes of 08.12.2025

Proposed by Cllr. Gilroy
Seconded by Cllr. Gibbons

 AND AGREED

 “To confirm the Minutes of the Meeting of Sligo LCSP Inaugural meeting held on 8 December 2025”

 

2. Matters Arising

Cllr. Arthur Gibbons queried the staff appointment of the LCSP Administrator.  Members were informed that the Administrator is being appointed and will start within 2-3 weeks.  

 

3. Declaration of Interest

No Declaration of Interest received

 

4. Reports

The LCSP CoOrdinator outlined activities from December 2025 to March 2026 as follows:

  • The CoOrdinator welcomed Garrett McDermott who will be joining the C&I team as LCSP Administrator
  • Focused on early‑stage partnership development, networking and establishing procedures, with key activities including attendance at the first National LCSP event, ongoing participation in regional CoOrdinator Network meetings, and engagement with the National Office through online sessions to support consistent LCSP implementation.
  • Representing Sligo LCSP on the Sligo–Leitrim CYPSC Safe & Protected from Harm subgroup
  • Attended the the National Road Safety Conference in Killarney.
  • Awaiting the 2026 Memorandum of Understanding from NOCS
  • Awaiting Ministerial approval for NWRDATF membership,
  • Issued a post‑inaugural press summary for the media which is available online
  • Community Safety Fund – the LCSP will be advised when this funding is opened

 

5. General Items

Presentation on Longford Pilot LCSP by Superintendent Seamie Boyle, Chair of Longford LCSP:

This did not proceed due to unavailability of Longford personnel and presentation will be given at a later meeting.

 

Presentation and discussion of Sligo LCSP Member Survey Findings by Ms. Maeve McCormack, Facilitator, Connect Write:

Ms. Maeve McCormack, Facilitator with Connect Write, presented the results of the LCSP Members Survey, outlining its purpose and thanking members for their engagement. She described community safety as requiring a collaborative, multi‑agency approach addressing physical, social and environmental wellbeing. The purpose of the survey was to establish a clear baseline to support the work and development of the Sligo LCSP with key themes including collaboration, inclusion and community empowerment.

The Chair, Cllr. Casserly, thanked Ms. McCormack and noted the value of the community‑focused findings.

The Chair highlighted the importance of the National Community Safety Strategy, the need for a Mission Statement, and emphasised that the process of developing the three‑year Plan through partnership and shared expertise is as important as the final outcome.

 

Amendment of Standing Orders

The Chair advised members of the proposed changes to the Standing Orders as presented and the following discussions took place among members:

Members discussed further as follows:

Cllr. Gilroy raised a query regarding Point 11, noting that it does not specify what happens if a member is not present to table an item. He expressed concern that this could result in multiple items being carried forward to a subsequent meeting. Drawing on practice recently adopted at Council meetings, he suggested a minor amendment that where a member is not present, the item would fall on the day and would not proceed for discussion in their absence.

Proposed by Cllr Gilroy
Seconded by Cllr. Casserly

Cllr. Walsh, Chris McManus and Kira Smith queried the attendance of the media and if they were being notified or being invited to the LCSP meetings. The Chairperson confirmed that media may attend LCSP meetings, with provision under Standing Orders for their temporary exclusion where necessary. The CoOrdinator confirmed that the press had been notified of the meeting and that the dates of the Plenary meetings for 2026 were outlined in the Standing Orders, which had been sent to the media. The meeting was further advised that the Agenda for LCSP meetings is available on the Council website 3 working days prior to a meeting.

Chris MacManus asked if the press could be sent a copy of the agenda at the same time as Members are being sent on the agenda going forward.

Cllr. McSharry suggested that this should be included in the Standing Orders.

 

Proposed by Cllr. Walsh
Seconded by Cllr. McSharry

The amended Standing Orders were then adopted subject to above discussion:

Proposed by Kira Smith
Seconded by John Feerick

AND AGREED

“To amend the LCSP Standing Orders.

 

6. Members Interest Items (MII’s)

MII received from Chris Mac Manus:

“To ask how many parking tickets, fines, cautions, clamping or other similar actions have been carried out by both Sligo County Council (or its’subcontractor) and An Garda Siochána regarding illicit usage of disabled parking bays throughout County Sligo for the years 2023, 2024 & 2025.

Further, to ask for a report outlining as to why the Council discontinued the texting system in place for reporting the illicit use of disabled parking bays”

Supt. Colsh advised that illegal use of disabled parking bays is a countywide issue involving local users, visitors and tourists, and that enforcement should be a last resort. He emphasised that the focus of the LCSP should be on education and promotional awareness to make such behaviour socially unacceptable, rather than on Garda performance or historic figures. He noted that a single complaint is sufficient to recognise the matter as a live and relevant community safety issue requiring a collaborative response. Supt. Colsh confirmed that the issue is being addressed through Garda initiatives, including involvement by a probationer Garda as part of a social programme, and advised that rather than discussing detailed statistics at this meeting, agencies, including An Garda Síochána, will have opportunities to present data in future sessions.

Brian Flynn, in reply to the MII, stated that in 2024, the Council introduced new Parking Byelaws and within those Byelaws, clamping of vehicles was introduced and it seemed to be a more effective way of dealing with disabled parking bays as the text service was only available during normal working hours.

Chris MacManus expressed disappointment with the response to the MII received from Statutory agencies and that for measurable purposes, he expected to receive actual figures. He also said that improvement on disabled parking signage would be beneficial.

Pippa Black stated that DPO was not consulted on the removal of the texting system following the introduction of clamping and that such enforcement could be problematic as it takes a long time for vehicles to be moved.

In reply, Brian Flynn and Martin Lydon noted the issues raised regarding disabled parking signage, text messaging and clamping and confirmed these matters would be examined.

It was advised that the Byelaws were subject to public consultation prior to adoption; however, the Council agreed to examine the wording of the Byelaws to determine whether amendments may be required in the interest of community safety.

It was also confirmed that the LA stats from the Council would be shared in a written response to the Partnership.

The Chair confirmed that enforcement statistics will be made available to members through future presentations, noting data is also available in Garda Quarterly Reports.

 

MII received from Chris Mac Manus:

“That Sligo LCSP notes the recent publication of the ‘Assessment of Policing Performance Mid-Year Review’ by the Policing and Community Safety Authority (PCSA). received It also notes that this report highlighted the fact that the much-needed Recruitment and Retention Strategy has not been produced.

for Garda (and Garda Reserve) numbers for County Sligo for each of the years 2020-2026, and as policing resources will be under unprecedented pressure later this year given the requirement of policing Ireland’s presidency of the EU Council, will this impact on the availability of frontline Garda

Supt. Tom Colsh spoke on Garda reserve numbers for county Sligo and explained to members that Sligo was included in the The Operating Model 2024 which was a whole restructuring of the organisation nationally. The implication for Sligo was that the 2 former Districts in Sligo were amalgamated to 1 District. He outlined the staffing divisions of this District and the Sligo Community Engagement area as follows:

1 x Chief Superintendent

1 x Superintendent

5 x Uniformed Inspectors with 18 x Sergeants

96 x Gardai and 3 x Probationer Gardai

7 x Reserve Gardai in the county  

Supt. Colsh assured members that during Irelands’ presidency of the EU Council, Sligo would have the appropriate and adequate policing requirements needed.

Chris MacManus thanked Superintendent Colsh for the response, for providing information on Garda resources to support community safety, and for assuring that Sligo would have the appropriate and adequate policing requirements in place during Ireland’s Presidency of the EU Council.

 

MII received from Cllr. Arthur Gibbons:

“Bicycle theft in Ireland is a major issue with over 25,000 bicycles reported stolen since 2019 tough true figures are likely hired due to underreporting.

I am requesting, Sligo Garda Siochana provide this local community safety partnership with a full report of how many bicycle thefts have occurred in Co, Sligo since the 1st of January 2020 to December 2025, how many were recovered and how many successful convictions were made.”

Supt. Colsh emphasised that he was reluctant to provide historic figures in response to this MII, citing concerns that bicycle thefts in Co. Sligo may be underreported. He stressed that it is important that such incidents are reported to the Gardai to give the Gardai an opportunity to investigate it.

Cllr. Gibbons thanked Supt. Colsh for his reply and stated that it is an important issue. Supt. Colsh said the property marking scheme has been successful and this is still being done throughout communities.

Edel Doran said that Sligo BID will reach out to retailers that sell bicycles and ask them to advise customers to take photos of the bike and register the bikes online.

 

7. Local Community Safety Plan update

The LCSP Coordinator advised as follows:

  • On 5 February 2026, the Minister launched the online National Community Safety Survey. The survey closed on 27 February and received responses from over 130 individuals and groups in Sligo, following promotion through LCSP members, PPN networks, social media, and the LCSP website. While detailed results had not yet been issued by the National Office, these will be shared with members once available.
  • Once the Community Safety Strategy is published, guidelines would be issued to local authorities to commence drafting the LCSP Plan. It was noted that it would be beneficial for the Partnership to consider establishing a subgroup to begin this work but this would be discussed at the next scheduled LCSP meeting on 28th May.
  • With the appointment of the new Administrator, the Coordinator advised that focus would be on community engagement and communication with members and relevant stakeholder groups.

8. Correspondence

The Coordinator advised of the following emails to be sent to members:

  • Healthy Ireland Framework Consultation Campaign 2026-2036
  • Mental Health Irelands HELLO, HOW ARE YOU CAMPAIGN
  • STRIDE funding: Funded under PEACEPLUS, aimed at supporting digital transformation in rural communities across border regions.

The Coordinator further advised that going forward, emails relating to community safety and relevant to the work of the Sligo LCSP will be forwarded to members for their information and advice

 

9. Any Other Business

  • The Chair advised that an email would be sent to all members to invite them to make a presentation on the sector, agency or group that they represent at the next meeting on 28th May. It was suggested that 1-2 presentations could be made at each meeting going forward.
  • Chris MacManus asked if the Sligo Leitrim Divisional Plan 2026 could be circulated. Colsh stated that the Policing Community Safety Plan will be formulated around the issues that are pertinent to the LCSP.
  • Marie Brennan said that it was important that the stats requested around disabled parking were provided so that we have a starting point and can be measured going forward.
  • Ms. Edel Doran suggested that the LCSP should map existing community safety plans across all sectors to establish a clear baseline of current activity, identify gaps, and inform future planning. She proposed that each sector submit a record of any relevant plans currently in place.
  • Cllr. Casserly, Chair, thanked members for attending the meeting.

 

The business of the meeting concluded at 6pm.

 


Meeting Date 23/03/2026