A West Cork councillor is seeking equitable representation on Cork County Council’s new Local Community Safety Partnership for each of its eight municipal districts.

The new LCSP partnership will replace the older Joint Policing Committees, otherwise known as JPCs, but the number of public representatives set by the department of justice has been limited to seven.

Independent Cllr Finbarr Harrington told The Southern Star he will be asking his colleagues at their monthly meeting on Monday December 1st to write to the minister for justice asking for ‘common sense to prevail.’

Cllr Harrington said each of the eight municipal districts have selected their representative, but it may yet come down to drawing names from a hat to see who makes the final cut.

‘The new initiative has been described as a forum for community safety issues between An Garda Síochána, local authorities, and the community, but if one of the eight is excluded that can hardly be considered fair,’ he stated.

He suggested: ‘The department should allow the eight representatives to have a seat on the committee.

‘The geographical size of Cork county alone demands it,’ he added. ‘Aside from being the largest county in the country, it has 11,000km of roads, and has one-eighth the coastline of Ireland.

‘Adding another representative so that each area is equitably represented should be a no-brainer.’

If the department does not bend its rules, Cllr Harrington asked: ‘How are we going to arrive at seven? It’s like squaring a circle, it would be hard to do.

‘I’m not sure what was the logic, or thinking, behind changing it from a JPC,’ he said, ‘but it’s obvious to everyone that the eight districts should be represented.’

Cllr Harrington said council officials had already made the point that three such forums – one each for the northern, southern and western divisions – should be created for Cork county given its size.

But the department held its ground stating that the same level of representatives will sit on the LCSPs regardless of the size of the counties.