By Conor Sharkey
STRABANE District Policing Partnership (DPP) has a new chairman in the form of veteran DUP councillor Thomas Kerrigan.
Mr Kerrigan was elected to the seat at a meeting of Strabane Council on Tuesday night and takes over the position from SDLP councillor Eugene McMenamin.
It is three years since Mr Kerrigan first took the chairman's seat on the DPP and speaking earlier this week, the Castlederg man pointed to a number of significant changes which have occurred in that short space of time.
"Things have moved on greatly in recent times and I welcome that and am looking forward to a contribution from all the main political parties. We don't know what the outcome will be with regards to the selection of independent members, but there has always been great harmony on Strabane DPP and I would hope that would continue. I feel that within the local policing partnership, we can have fairly healthy tension and debate but at the same time we are there to keep the PSNI accountable and I would hope for co-operation for all on that," he said.
Highlighting the issues which will be top of his agenda as newly elected chairman, Mr Kerrigan said: "The main issues would be drivers, particularly at this time of year. There is hardly a day goes by that we don't hear of some fatality on our roads, so road safety is my number one priority.
"Another major issue would be personal safety among young women. Again this is a very pertinent issue at Christmas and would urge all women to take extra care when going out over the festive period.
"While these issues are very important, it is important to point out that Strabane is one of the safest towns in Northern Ireland to live in and I as chair hope to maintain that."
Commenting on the current make up of Strabane DPP, which stands at three DUP, one UPP, three Sinn Fein and one SDLP, Mr Kerrigan said: "The unionist and nationalist make up of the body is fairly well balanced but it still has to be worked at. I hope Sinn Fein come in with the intention that we did when we first took our seats and that is that we have a job to do and that we are here to do business. It's all about co-operation and I look forward to a challenging year as chairman," he said.
