Once again the people of Fermoy have come together to re-invigorate the Fermoy Neighbourhood Watch scheme and the first meeting of the new committee was held on September 14 at the Community Resource Centre in Fermoy.
Fermoy Neighbourhood Watch was established in 2009 with the aim of working together as a community, to keep an eye out for each other and become good and caring neighbours throughout the town and its surrounds. Over the years the Community Garda has played an active role within the committee.
Since the departure of Kathryn Canty last year, Community Garda Conor Gately is now involved with the group.
In their role, members of the committee come from different areas of the town and will look out for older and vulnerable members of their community. Neighbourhood Watch is a crime prevention programme designed to encourage the community to cooperate with local Gardaí in reducing opportunities for crime.
Committee members also ensures that those who feel vulnerable can apply for a personal alarm to allay any fears that they might have in relation to falls, fear of crime, isolation or for those who have an existing health condition.
Equally, there has been a very positive response to the Fermoy Text Alert service that was set up in November 2015. Set up by Fermoy’s Catherine Fant, suspicious activity is monitored by people in the community and reported to Gardaí. This information in turn, is provided to people who are signed up to the Test Alert service. The aim of the service is to deter crime and in some cases lead to the arrests of criminals.
The following are current Neighbourhood Watch/Community Alert representatives: In Fermoy – Tadhg O’Donovan, Cllr Noel McCarthy, Catherine Fant, Grace Feerick, Frances Linehan, Sean Roche and Sinead Milward. In Glanworth – Cllr Frank O’Flynn, Joan O’Neill and Pauline O’Dwyer are the local activists.
Further information about the services is available from Mary Allen, telephone 022-46580 or email mary@avondhublackwater.com
