Longford Community Text Alert Group pilot a success in Colmcille

Aughnacliffe’s Cllr Garry Murtagh has expressed his gratitude to all who have supported the Colmcille Community Text Alert Group’s launch of the Longford Text Alert Group in recent weeks.

Colmcille Community Text Alert Group are the pilot group for this new initiative.

Christine Collins from Longford County Council explained that the Community Text Alert Group is a collaborative project between Longford Local Community Safety Partnership, Longford County Council, local text alert groups and An Garda Síochána.

Ms Collins thanked the community representatives for embracing the initiative and An Garda Siochana for their participation and support.

Longford Text Alert is an App and accompanying website which sends local people crime prevention text alerts, community notices from across County Longford and sends notifications based on a subscribers location.

This means that a recipient only receives community/crime updates relevant to their area and details of what is happening in their local area. The App is free to use.

Christine thanked the Elected Members, the Management team of Longford County Council for their support for this pilot initiative and gave a special mention to Cllr Murtagh for his vision, support and submission of a Notice of Motion which was key to getting this initiative started.

Granard Inspector Dave Jordan also welcomed the development of the Longford Text Alert App, stating this is a “huge development” in terms of an advanced Text Alert System, which is a more streamlined and user-friendly system.

Tony Blankley and Seamus Reilly who manage the Colmcille Community Text Alert Group for the parish of Colmcille and surrounding areas are delighted with the new system, the numbers that had gathered for the launch and their support in downloading the App.

Mr Blankley said that they are available to help and support anyone in the area to download the App.

“It’s a great initiative that will save the groups money, plus it’s more user friendly in its administration,” he said.

“The added bonus is that now An Garda Síochána have direct access to send out crime prevention messages to the wider communities which in turn makes the whole system more efficient.”

A litter picking and property marking event will be held in the Colmcille Community Centre on Saturday morning, June 25, where anyone who would like to sign up for the Text Alert is welcome to do so.