During May and June, 2011, as part of the final consultation stage of the White Paper on Crime process, regional meetings were held in Tralee, Waterford, Limerick, Galway and Dublin and were attended by some 270 participants. Participants came from across the community and included representatives from community and voluntary groups, including minority groups, as well as statutory organisations and public representatives. The meetings were designed to facilitate a dialogue in respect of the relationship between the criminal justice system and the community it serves. At the outset, meeting participants were addressed by senior personnel from An Garda Síochána after which an open forum, facilitated by Dr. Barry Vaughan, NESC, gave participants an opportunity to comment on the following discussion topics:

•Public confidence in the criminal justice system and in its capacity to tackle crime and the fear of crime.
•Communications between members of the public and the criminal justice system.
•The responsiveness of the criminal justice system to members of the public.
•A greater role for members of the public in responding to crime, whether by providing information or engaging in local voluntary activity.

The views expressed by those attending the consultation meetings are contained in the Appendix. They do not necessarily reflect the views of the Department.

This phase of the consultation process also incorporates a discussion document which was published in June 2011. The document further explores the issues above and invites written submissions by the end of August 2011.