Council policing meeting suspended as email error leads to no Garda appearance

Holding policing committee without police present a ‘contradiction in terms’, councillor says

A meeting of the Dublin City Joint Policing Committee was suspended after an error inputting an incorrect email address led to nobody from An Garda Síochána appearing. File image: Niall Carson/PA Wire.
A meeting of the Dublin City Joint Policing Committee was suspended after an error inputting an incorrect email address led to nobody from An Garda Síochána appearing. File image: Niall Carson/PA Wire.

A meeting of the Dublin City Joint Policing Committee was suspended after an error inputting an incorrect email address led to nobody from An Garda Síochána appearing.

The committee was due to discuss a report on day services for the homeless, safety measures during Halloween and recent breaches of public health guidelines to prevent the spread of Covid-19 but had to be postponed.

A Dublin City Council official said there was an error with the email address for the Garda and that she was in the process of trying to reschedule the meeting for next week.

Speaking during the council’s online Zoom meeting, Fine Gael councillor Ray McAdam said that in his 11 years on the council he had never had a situation where he attended either a local or city-wide joint policing committee meeting with no Garda present.

Labour councillor Joe Costello said that holding a joint policing committee meeting with no member of An Garda Siochána present was “a contradiction in terms.”

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Simon Carswell

Simon Carswell

Simon Carswell is News Editor of The Irish Times