Garda Commissioner Drew Harris to address Kilkenny Joint Policing Committee

Garda Commissioner Drew Harris will address the Kilkenny Joint Policing Committee on a proposed new model which will see Kilkenny lose its garda divisional headquarters.

Serious concerns have been raised about the new policing model which will see Kilkenny lose its divisional headquarters to neighbouring Waterford.
The radical plans announced by Garda Commissioner Drew Harris in September have been heavily criticised at local and national level.
The Commissioner is expected to attend the next meeting of the Joint Policing Committee (JPC) later this month.
At the last Joint Policing Committee (JPC) meeting held in Piltown chairman Cllr Pat Fitzpatrick said that he had ‘serious concerns’ about the new model and the negative impact it might have on the hugely successful community policing in Kilkenny.
Assistant Commissioner, Michael Finn made a presentation at the meeting and described the current system as ‘archaic’ and the need for it ‘to change and modernise’.
There is widespread opposition to the new policing model.
“You have told us a lot and you have told us nothing,” Cllr Fitzpatrick said to the Assistant Commissioner, adding that he would ‘be fighting to retain what we have’.