SENIOR gardai would have to publicly explain policing plans for every local authority area once a month, under a proposal put forward yesterday by Democratic Left.
If returned to government the party wants legislation passed obliging the officers to appear at meetings of new Garda liaison committees, where community representatives could set out their policing needs.
The idea has not yet been suggested to the party's Rainbow partners, but the Democratic Left leader, Mr Prionsias De Rossa, said: "There's no reason in principle why they would oppose it".
Already gardai attend many meetings of local committees, particularly those involving antidrug activists in Dublin. The Democratic Left plan would establish the link between local gardai and the public in each area on a legal basis.
The proposed committees would meet in a public forum which could be attended by the media, said the Democratic Left TD, Mr Pat Rabbitte.
The committees appear to be the only new idea about crime in the party's manifesto. The rest of its crime section is a restatement of current Government policies, such as speeding up the courts process, completion of the prison building programme and "clamping down" on drug smugglers.
However, the party says: "There must be no letup in the pursuit and conviction of criminals. Equally, government must tackle the root causes of crime."
Under its drugs policies, Democratic Left commits itself to "helping addicts as we would the victims of any serious health epidemic".
Democratic Left has had a central role in two Government task forces on drugs, which concluded that more effort should be made to spend money on youth diversion activities in disadvantaged areas. These conclusions are reaffirmed in the party's manifesto which, like Labour's document, places more stress on tackling crime by sharing the fruits of economic growth than by offering new law enforcement measures.