Portlaoise 'terrified' by online rumour of threatening man claims councillor

The community in a Laois town is gripped by “anxiety and concern” by a rumour of a dangerous person in the area, a rumour that should be proven true or false by Laois Gardaí at Joint Policing Committee meetings, which have not occurred in a year.

So claims Portlaoise Municipal District councillor Caroline Dwane Stanley, speaking at the Laois County Council monthly meeting on Monday.

“Over the weekend on social media, there has been an awful lot of anxiety and concern. A particular individual made serious threats against members of the public. All day it had been circulated that this person moved from Dublin to Portlaoise, in Fairgreen.

“The importance of JPCs is so we can raise things like this in a public forum. It may be complete rubbish but people in the community are terrified. This person is said to have made threats against any member of the public.

“The last meeting was last April, it's not acceptable,” Cllr Dwane Stanley said.

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Cllr James Kelly had first raised the issue of the absent JPC meetings, where community representative and councillors get to speak in person with senior Laois Gardaí.

"I had a motion recently about the lack of a replacement for the JPC meetings. It's well over a year and still no concrete movement. When will this local safety partnership begin? Can we send a letter to the Minister. Can we have an update?" he had asked.

Laois County Council say that the new Local Safety Partnership, replacing JPCs awaits regulations. They expect that it may possibly be ready by the end of June.

"The legal act is now enacted. We await regulations from Government, they are very important. We can send a letter to the department," official Georgina Ireland had said.

Gardaí confirmed to the The Leinster Express that they have no report of an assault of a man in Fairgreen, as alleged in a video circulated on social media.