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In this interview, EUNWA speaks with Rosie Palmer CEO of Muintir na Tíre, the Irish organisation behind the Community Alert programme. The conversation explores Ireland’s distinctive trilateral model, built on cooperation between local communities, Muintir na Tíre and An Garda Síochána, and highlights how rural safety is strengthened not only through crime prevention, but also through care, neighbourliness and social connection.

From practical farm security and community signage to digital innovation through the Cairde app, the interview offers valuable insights into how trusted local networks can make communities more resilient. It also underlines a principle that is central to EUNWA’s mission across Europe: safer communities are built through trust, participation and collective action.

Rosie, Ireland's Community Alert operates on a unique trilateral partnership between the community, Muintir na Tíre, and An Garda Síochána. How do you maintain the balance between being a grassroots, independent organisation and working so closely with the national police?

Muintir na Tíre was founded on the fundamental community development principles of self-help, self-reliance and neighbourliness, and our work continues to remain true to those. Our role today in the delivery of Community Alert demonstrates our ethos’ in how we support communities to identify their own needs and empower them to build safer, more caring and connected communities where people want to live, work, socialise and grow old in.

We recognise, however, that fundamental to the success of Community Alert is the high trust relationship between our police service and the general public. Having a programme, like Community Alert, creates another opportunity for that trusting relationship to be sustained and grown. Additionally, many of our police service in rural Ireland are also the very community people that promote community safety at a local level. For example, many retired Gardaí become Community Alert leaders or take up Community Development roles or volunteer positions within their communities e.g. coaching sports teams.

Of note are the recent changes taking place in our models of Community Policing including the establishment of the Policing & Community Safety Authority Ireland.

The foundation of NOCS: The National Office for Community Safety also marked a change in the traditional idea of “policing”. For many years, at a Local Authority level, the “Joint Policing Committees” created a ‘them and us’ model with regards to crime prevention and community safety. However, NOCS has recently replaced these with LCSPs: ‘Local Community Safety Partnerships’, which have shifted the responsibility away from solely the Gardaí and onto everyone in the community. Muintir Na Tire has representatives sitting on over 20 LCSPs.

Our trilateral partnership works because our communities provide local knowledge, Muintir na Tíre provides the national structure and support and An Garda Síochána provides professional policing expertise. And each partner recognises that none of us can achieve the same outcomes alone. By maintaining clear roles and ensuring that each partner understands and respects the role of the others, while working collaboratively, we have created a model that has endured for more than forty years and continues to earn the trust of communities across Ireland.

Community Alert was never designed to be an extension of policing or with the intention to replace policing. Rather, it was established to empower communities to take an active role in their own safety while having a system where they can officially and efficiently work with us and the Gardaí.

From a Community Development perspective, our starting point is always the needs and priorities identified by local people themselves. Community Alert groups are run by volunteers who understand the unique circumstances of their own areas. They decide what issues are most important locally, whether that is crime prevention, supporting older people, tackling isolation, improving communication or responding to emerging challenges, or indeed a combination of all of these.

Ultimately, the partnership works because there is a shared objective but different responsibilities.

Unlike many traditional Neighbourhood Watch schemes, Community Alert places a huge emphasis on social care, such as visiting older neighbours and the Seniors Alert Scheme. Why do you believe this holistic approach is so vital for true rural safety?

In Muintir, we believe that “safety” is about much more than preventing crime and, as such, approach the delivery of Community Alert as a three-part programme: Crime Prevention, Community Safety and Care.

Ireland currently reports the highest levels of loneliness in Europe: The Loneliest Nation in Europe? Ireland as a Case Study, and Implications for Policy - Public Policy. We recognise that the experience of loneliness and associated isolation can be just as damaging as being a victim of criminal activity. A person who is disconnected from their neighbours is often more vulnerable to scams, theft and poor health outcomes.

Initiatives such as the Seniors Alert Scheme: Seniors Alert Scheme Pobal | SAS | Personal Alarms for the Elderly Ireland, our pilot “Community Support Register” project: Muintir na Tíre Community Support Register - YouTube demonstrate the desire for our groups to do more outside of the traditional “crime prevention” role.

In our view, the safest communities are not necessarily those that are heavily policed, or the ones with locked gates and high fences. Rather, they are the communities with the strongest relationships and with neighbourliness to the fore. When people are connected and cared for, they become more resilient to all kinds of challenges.

Muintir Na Tíre sits on the Loneliness Taskforce Loneliness Taskforce 2024 political briefing - and in 2026 we plan to initiate an Oireachtas Committee (Parliamentary Committee) on Loneliness and launch Ireland’s first Loneliness Strategy.

Our research shows that opportunistic burglars generally choose the path of least resistance; they do not want to work hard or waste time. We advocate for a 'layered defence'—multiple minor obstacles rather than a single fortress wall. How does Muintir na Tíre advise rural residents, particularly farmers with open land and outbuildings, to implement practical, layered security without compromising their daily operations?

Yes – Rural crime is generally opportunity crime, and we actively teach the 10 principles of crime prevention to our Community Alert groups.

In order to grow our knowledge on Crime Prevention measures, our team undertook Crime Prevention for Practitioners training in 2025 delivered by Build Secure and certified by GBS: Short certificate courses in Ireland | Galway Business School – this involved learning about the 10 principles of crime prevention and how to visually audit an area; town, village, community space, from the point of view of security and crime prevention and make recommendations for changing the space.

This training encouraged us to apply to the Department of Agriculture to avail of their Farm Safety Funding to devise a series of farm walks and a practical guide to empower farmers and farm families to assess and improve their on-farm security. Details of the initiative and the booklet can be found here: Your Farm Security Handbook - Muintir Na Tire. We recognise that farmers are generally time poor and reluctant to invest in their on-farm security (unless they had been a victim of crime) and therefore, the aim of this project was to identify free or cheap ways for farmers to improve security that would not take too much time.

Our Property Branding service is also attractive to farmers and rural dwellers, and we undertake this in Farm Yards, Marts and local villages regularly. We use a state-of-the-art laser branding machine to brand expensive property from phones to trailers with the owner's Driving Licence number which acts as a deterrent to would-be thieves in the first instance and improves the chance of reunification if recovered by Gardaí. A member of the Gardaí can identify any citizen from their driver’s licence number using their mobility device.

Muintir Na Tíre has also been successful in accessing the Department of Justice Community Safety Fund to research and develop a “Community Safety Toolkit” – a suite of training aimed at training community safety champions across the country. Champions will be empowered to assess and identify community safety needs and enable their communities to become safer. We have recently hired a retired Garda Sergeant with over 30 years’ experience in Community Policing and expertise in the emerging area of CPTED - Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design, to deliver this project.

Muintir Na Tíre is one of the founding members of the National Rural Safety Forum and together with other partners, we launched the 2025/2027 Rural Safety Plan in September 2025. Under the pillars of Community Safety & Engagement, Property Crime, Roads Policing and Animal & Wildlife Crime, member organisations of the Forum and relevant stakeholders have committed to 18 actions which will be achieved through 53 sub-actions.

Criminological reviews highlight that visible signs of an alert community—such as targeted signage or active WhatsApp networks—act as massive cognitive disruptors for offenders, forcing them to abandon their target. In isolated rural areas, where neighbours might be miles apart, what specific environmental signals or visible deterrents have proven most effective in communicating to a burglar that the area is actively protected?

We know from crime prevention principles that a maintained garden or tended to hedge can act as a crime deterrent because it shows that someone is looking after where they live. Likewise, we believe one of the most powerful messages a community can send is showing that people are paying attention, they are looking after their area and they care.

Our signage remains highly effective because it immediately signals that residents are connected to a wider network and maintain regular communication with each other and with An Garda Síochána. Equally important are active local communication systems, whether through text alerts or our Cairde app which allows real time communication.

In rural areas, where houses may be separated by considerable distances, offenders often assume they can operate unnoticed. Visible signs of community organisation challenge that assumption. They create uncertainty for the offender and increase the perceived risk of being observed, identified, or reported.

Our Property Branding and signage service, as mentioned above, also acts as a visible deterrent.

Where our Community Alert programme is operational, the message is simple: this community knows what is happening, shares information quickly and looks out for one another.

Muintir na Tíre has driven significant technological innovation with the launch of the 'Cairde' app. How have you managed the challenge of introducing digital tools to rural demographics, ensuring that older or vulnerable residents are not left behind?

I believe that in this apparent age of “connectedness” we have, in fact, never been more disconnected from each other.

When developing the Cairde app, we recognised that our communities include people with varying levels of digital confidence. Therefore, we focused on:

• Simplicity – no action should take more than 3 button presses, and our portal is user-friendly.
• Accessibility – we promote the use of the app to anyone with a smartphone; however, we will always continue to provide the text alert service to those who do not have one.
• Training – we provide 1:1 training on the app and have recruited youth volunteers (Foróige) to engage with older people to assist them in downloading and utilising the app.

We worked closely with volunteers, local coordinators and community groups to ensure the technology was easy to use and supported by people on the ground.

Importantly, we do not view digital tools as a replacement for traditional communication methods: the app complements existing community networks rather than replacing them.

The goal is to ensure that everyone benefits from faster communication and better access to information, regardless of age or technical ability.

Across Europe, we are mapping the impact of highly mobile, organised criminal groups (sometimes referred to as 'criminal tourism') that target specific areas rapidly before moving on. Does rural Ireland experience this phenomenon of fast-moving, non-localised theft, and how does the rapid communication within your network, perhaps aided by the Cairde app, help authorities intercept them?

Ireland is small and easily traversable and, as such, is susceptible to incidents involving highly mobile offenders who target particular areas and move quickly between locations. This presents a significant challenge because traditional geographic boundaries become less relevant.

The greatest strength of Community Alert is the speed at which information can travel through trusted networks. When suspicious activity is observed and reported promptly, communities can alert one another and share information with An Garda Síochána in real time.

Tools such as the Cairde app strengthen this capability by enabling timely and accurate communication and the recording of live locations, while ensuring that information is shared responsibly.

The quicker communities and law enforcement can build a picture of emerging activity, the greater the opportunity to prevent further incidents and support investigations.

One such example of “travelling” crime relates to the illegal hunting of the protected Hare in Ireland. We recently embarked on a project, working with all those affected to tackle this scourge across rural Ireland and identified a multi-stakeholder plan to tackle such practices.

With over 1,250 active groups across the country, volunteer retention is clearly one of your strengths. In an era where many civic associations suffer from 'volunteer fatigue', what is your secret to keeping local communities engaged over the long term?

In truth, the numbers of Community Alert groups have declined since Covid, and the impact is still being felt. Since coming on board with Muintir I’ve been working with our 5 Community Alert Development Officers (CADOs) to put in place a RAG (Red, Amber, Green) list of all Community Alert groups across the country. Red meaning dormant or disbanded, Amber needing support and Green doing well. This has helped us to identify those groups who need support most and allowed us to best allocate resources among those groups.

Our network of CADOs and head office support function is fundamental to the success of Community Alert and how we keep groups engaged. Having someone groups can call for support, information and advice is crucial for our volunteers.

People remain involved when they can see that their efforts make a genuine difference to their community. Community Alert volunteers regularly witness the positive outcomes of their work, whether that is helping an older neighbour feel safer, organising a local initiative or contributing to crime prevention efforts.

We also recognise that volunteering has changed. I like to think of the Elizabeth Andrew quote: “Volunteers don’t necessarily have the time, but they do have the heart” – We recognise that volunteers may have less time available than previous generations, so flexibility and support are increasingly important. Our role is to provide volunteers with practical resources, training, recognition and opportunities to contribute in ways that suit their circumstances.

We’ve recently started a project to collect information about volunteer work being done by community groups so we can share information on what works well for our groups - Community Group Projects & Activities - Muintir Na Tire

Above all, we recognise that the success of Community Alert is in its ownership by the community. Volunteers are not delivering for an unknown entity - they are strengthening their own community.

As Muintir na Tíre connects with the EUNWA network, what is the main lesson or best practice that you believe the rest of Europe can learn from the Irish rural model? And conversely, what are you hoping to discover from other European nations?

The greatest strength of Community Alert is the same as Muintir’s founding ethos’: self-help, self-reliance and neighbourliness. Community safety is most effective when local people are active participants rather than passive recipients of services.

Ireland’s experience demonstrates that strong partnerships between communities, voluntary organisations and the police service have, over decades, produced sustainable outcomes.

The integration of crime prevention, community safety and care is something we are particularly proud of. Additionally, our Memorandum of Understanding with the Department of Justice serves to cement the partnership with An Garda Síochána.

At the same time, there is much we can, and have learned from our European colleagues. Our involvement in the European network is an opportunity to share experiences, learn from one another and strengthen community safety across Europe.

While our communities may differ, the fundamental principle remains the same: safer communities are built through trust, participation and collective action.

We are grateful to Rosie Palmer and Muintir na Tíre for this valuable conversation and for offering such a clear and inspiring example of how community safety can be strengthened through trust, care, participation and partnership.