Chris Andrews (Dublin Bay South, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the opportunity to speak on the Bill.

It is a sad reflection on society that so many children are being groomed into a life of crime. It is a shocking image of deterioration of communities. It is a clear reflection on many of the failings of Fine Gael over the past 12 years in government.

Working communities have been abandoned and left behind at the mercy of thugs. Many of the families living in these communities feel like they are living under siege. Not only have these communities been failed, but also the rank and file members of the Garda have been failed by 12 years of Fine Gael in government. They have seen Garda numbers and resources reducing year-on-year in Dublin. The Government, like its predecessor, is failing front-line gardaí and emergency responders. Gardaí have been warning of the legal risk they face when responding to an emergency callout. It is unacceptable the members are left exposed to dangerous driving charges. It is also unacceptable that, in 2023, there is still no training for gardaí involved in pursuit. Now we have a garda facing potential charges for pursuing a crime gang that brought misery and terror to families and communities for years. What will the Government do to give emergency responders the necessary legal protections to carry out their job? It is demoralising for so many gardaí on the front line to know that they have to let many of these thugs escape. It is demoralising for the gardaí and for the local communities that they are supporting.

Anyone living, or involved, in these communities can clearly see the increasing number of children being groomed by drug gangs as foot soldiers. For example, in Pearse House, young children, from the ages of 8, 9 and ten up, are being paid to smash up closed circuit television, CCTV, cameras and bring drugs from one location to another. Children aged ten, 11 and 12 are being paid to carry money from one location to another for these criminal gangs. The resources that the gardaí have available to them are inadequate for them to address the real dangers and concerns that communities have.

Residents in Pearse House feel that they have been let down by the Government because of the lack of resources being put into communities. There was an issue where Dublin City Council put in CCTV all around the blocks in Pearse House. The children were paid to go up and drop blocks on the CCTV and smash them. That hinders the ability of the Garda and Dublin City Council to operate. Effectively, it is almost a no-go area for many families and children. It is demoralising because 98% or 99% of the people living in Pearse Street in that community are good decent hard-working people who worked throughout the pandemic. They were on the front line in the pandemic and they have been let down by the State. They have been let down by Government.

These children are being exploited by these gangs to move and sell drugs because of their age. Many will end up leaving school early and will never get the opportunities in life that they deserve.

I welcome this Bill but we must acknowledge that it alone will not be the solution. We cannot police our way out of the current crisis that communities are facing. It is part of the solution but we need to see local communities effectively resourced. Local communities benefit greatly from activity community gardaí. We need to see increased support for community gardaí and an increase in youth diversion projects. The Proceeds of Crime (Investment in Disadvantaged Communities) (Amendment) Bill 2021, introduced by my colleague, Deputy Mark Ward, needs to be implemented. It has the potential to free up more money to support the communities that are suffering most at the hands of these gangs.

In the north inner city, we saw the positive impact the Mulvey report has had. In the south inner city, we did not. All those increased resources and supports for the inner city stopped exactly at the River Liffey and the south inner city was forgotten about, despite the north and south inner city being very much one community.

We have a fantastic youth group in the Pearse Street area called the Talk about Youth project. It is doing brilliant work engaging with young people in the area and that is having a positive impact but, again, it does not have the resources. It does not have its own facility and if it needs a facility in which to work with young people, it has to book it in advance. That is not the way in which any modern-day youth group should have to work. These youth groups need to be provided with dedicated facilities that will give them certainty and security and support the important work they do.

We all know what needs to be done. If all the political parties and groups show some will and determination, we can start delivering the resources and supports that will protect children from these drugs gangs.

See this speech in context