Community Action Plan for Waterford's north-west suburbs
From left, Marc Ó Cáthasaigh TD, Mayor of Waterford Jason Murphy, Minister of State Mary Butler, Minister of State James Browne, Chairperson Sean Aylward, Senator John Cummins and Matt Shanahan TD.
There was a great turnout at Carrickphierish Library for the launch of the North-West Suburbs Community Action Plan 2024-2030.
The plan was the first of its kind in 25 years and aims to improve supports in the local community.
The plan is the result of the work of the Waterford Local Community Safety Partnership (WLCSP), local stakeholders and a widespread consultation process with the local community.
James Browne, TD, Minister of State at the Department of Justice with responsibility for International Law, Law Reform and Youth Justice, came to the launch, as did Mayor of Waterford City and County Cllr Jason Murphy, fellow TDs Marc Ó Cathasaigh, Matt Shanahan and Minister of State Mary Butler.
According to the chairperson of the WLCSP, Sean Aylward: "Our plan is based upon making small but consistent and increasingly bigger steps to actioning the community’s priorities for the social and economic development of the area, over the coming years.
"I am confident and full of anticipation that the Community Safety Plan will be strategically embraced by all and that collaboratively, through safe inclusion, we can have the privilege of making a great community in the North West Suburbs."
Mr Aylward stated that the key challenges identified include unbalanced development, higher than-average unemployment rates, low education levels, and a high proportion of unskilled labour.
He said: "Additionally, there is a significant presence of social housing, lone-parent households, and young families, with a significant proportion of households where English is not the primary language.
"It was evident during our consultation process that childcare and community and family support services, among other supports and services, in the North-West Suburbs do not meet current and future needs."
In his address to the crowd, Minister Browne said: "The government is committed to a multi-agency approach where community safety is concerned so as to build better and more sustainable communities, and this city has played a pivotal role in shaping our approach to community safety."
Speaking with the Waterford News and Star about the lack of capital funding in Waterford, he stated: "I think this is an important start for that kind of funding.
"We haven't seen that funding being enforced before, so we are seeing a significant increase in the type of funding we're talking about now for Local Community Safety Partnership, for projects like this action plan."
Waterford is one of the pilot locations for community safety wardens.
Many of the new community guards had a strong background in on-the-ground community work, and were excited to get started.
One man said: "I'm used to dealing with emergency situations. So for me, that side of it is grand. I still have a new system to learn and new policies that we have to learn within our job that we're doing now."
Deputy Shanahan said: "It's early days, there will be tweaking and changing, but it will be very important for people to see people on the ground who represent the pilot program. Doing something is always better than doing nothing."
