Trevor Ó Clochartaigh (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Gabhaim buíochas leis an Aire as ucht fanacht linn don díospóireacht seo. I bprionsabal, táimid ar son an rún atá curtha chun cinn agus aontaímid le cuid mhaith den mhéid atá ráite. I must note that although Senator Norris thought that most of Sinn Féin's amendments was hogwash, he spent a lot of time talking about it. Moreover, I do not agree with his reading of them. The Sinn Féin amendment in particular is highly pertinent to the motion that has been tabled and I welcome the comments thus far of Senators Conway and Bacik in that regard, which was that in general, they agree with the sentiment being put forward.

I welcome this Private Members' motion and commend Sinn Féin's additions to it. Sinn Féin believes confidence in justice must be created through local and democratic control, which includes civilian oversights and which introduces adequate safeguards while ensuring cultural change within organisations. The justice service, including the policing service, is a public service, and as such it must be open to all and must be representative of and accountable to the people it serves in all their diversity. To fulfil its mandate to serve the people, policing must be free from partisan political control and must be community-centred and community-based.

Policing must conform to the highest standards of human rights, accountability, impartiality, transparency and effectiveness. We must create the conditions necessary to secure widespread, pan-community confidence in policing and justice, and to promote in particular a culture of policing with the community. Policing and justice, and other social services that result in widespread experience of greater security among individuals and communities, must be delivered alongside civilian oversight of policing and justice that is democratic, fully inclusive and robust.
Sinn Féin believes that what is also needed is a change of culture to one that views crime prevention through deterrence as a multi-agency matter requiring a collaborative strategic response, not just from policing and public services but also from the business and community and voluntary sectors. There is considerable scope for introducing multi-agency crime reduction partnerships and strategies.
The responsibilities of our joint policing committees are wide and varied. They are charged with keeping the levels and patterns of crime, disorder and anti-social behaviour, including misuse of alcohol and drugs, and the underlying factors contributing to these levels, under review. They are also to advise the local authority and gardaí on how they might best perform their functions; arrange and host public meetings; establish local policing fora in specific neighbourhoods where necessary; and co-ordinate the activities of those fora. Our JPCs also work to assist divisional and district Garda officers with the formulation and operation of annual policing plans.
The JPCs could facilitate joint working arrangements through collaborative partnerships between public sector partners and other bodies such as transport providers, those involved in the licensing and late night catering industries, and other relevant social, community and voluntary services to deal more effectively with specific problems emanating from the night-time economies of cities and towns, as well as daily ongoing work to make local communities safer. The aim of such crime reduction partnerships is to produce and implement agreed local crime reduction strategies. Our JPCs are invaluable but they are not nearly strong enough, and that is something we need to work to improve.
As regards powers, JPCs are merely advisory and, unlike the Northern district policing partnerships, DPPs, the police are not answerable to them. In 2008, divisional officers simply presented their annual policing plans to some JPCs as a fait accompli, while other JPCs were not given the plans. In any event, JPCs are failing to exercise the powers they have, and not enough public meetings are being held to ensure real and effective partnership with local communities.
JPCs are also under-resourced, especially compared with their northern DPP counterparts. Funding is essentially for training chairpersons and expenses. It is not clear how much funding, if any, can be used to employ dedicated staff. Currently, JPCs are staffed by already overstretched council staff. Moreover, since 2007, the allocation of funding in the annual budget has changed from the justice Vote to the Garda Vote. This means that the Garda will determine which JPCs get funding and for what purpose. It is a conflict of interest that has the potential to interfere with JPC independence. We need to work to strengthen, support and promote our JPCs to ensure they work for and with our local communities.
I regularly attend both the city and county JPC in Galway. I am allowed to be a member of one of the JPCs but I can only be an observer at the other one, although they allow me take part in the debates. In a constituency where there is a city and a county JPC, why are Oireachtas Members precluded from sitting on both, which we find very useful? The members on the JPC would often ask the Oireachtas Members to raise a matter to do with national legislation in the Seanad or the Dáil. It is often mentioned that attendance by Oireachtas representatives is not as strong as it could be in that they are invited but they do not attend as often as they could. I find it very useful to attend.
I see differences between the two JPCs. One of them has a strong strategic plan which makes great use of the sub-committee structures. It has work plans to which it adheres. The other one does not have a very good strategic plan, and the chair has not allowed that to be put forward. In contrast to what Senator Norris said, the media are regular attendees in both the JPCs in Galway, and most of the issues are covered, but certain politicians use it as a soapbox for their own ends. It is about getting the headline in the local paper as opposed to dealing with the issues at hand.
I want to raise two issues relating to the JPCs I have attended. I have noticed that at every single city and county JPC meeting there is a discussion about the increase in domestic violence. It is an issue we have not addressed nationally, but it is one we must examine and have more resources available for tackling it.
The other main issue raised with me, especially regarding Galway city, is the regulation of taxis, especially taxis that are parked in the wrong place at the wrong time. We have bona fide taxi drivers working in the city who have paid their dues and work full-time. They park in the ranks, but rogue taxi drivers will park or pull up anywhere. They pick up people leaving bars and nightclubs, which is taking the trade from those who work by the rules. They do not have an issue with the number of taxi drivers but they have an issue with the way the regulation is being enforced, which should be examined.
I commend the motion. The amendment we put forward is in the spirit of the motion and I hope the Government will be able to accept it.