Marcella Corcoran Kennedy (Laois-Offaly, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the witnesses for their fascinating presentations. The debate has been stimulating and will help inform our deliberations on this matter. I was interested to hear Mr. Lang speak about New York. I visited New York as a teenager in the 1980s and I well recall the intimidating atmosphere there where petty crime effectively took place in front of one's face. When I visited the city again in my 30s, I saw a city transformed. It felt so safe. I never experienced such a contrast in a relatively short period of time. As Mr. Lang said, this would have been done in 1993 and it was some time later than that when I visited. I would have high hopes for us achieving the same thing, in particular when one hears that the business community and the Lord Mayor of Dublin would like to achieve something similar in Dublin city and in other cities around the country.

I am interested to hear why this succeeded in New York and about the type of resources, which were alluded to by Mr. McGillicuddy and Mr. Murphy, required for people who fall between the cracks. Were additional resources put in in New York? Where did that funding come from? What type of investment was required?

In regard to what Mr. Bowen called the outlier in Liverpool, has detailed analysis been done on why that did not succeed? Would it have had anything to do with what Mr. Justice Reilly referred to as the stakeholder consultation, or community consultation, and how important it is to get buy-in?