Mr. Niall Garvey:

As members have copies of our statement, they will be glad to hear that I do not intend to read all of it. I will begin with an overview. Muintir na Tíre has operated community alert for more than 30 years in partnership with An Garda Síochána. Community alert is the largest crime prevention initiative in Ireland with more than 1,400 groups. While relying on the age old principle of neighbours watching out for each other, community alert has also been quick to utilise modern tools such as text alert.

Statistics show that levels of rural crime are not increasing in general. However, all levels of crime can be reduced. A very real issue in rural areas is the fear of crime. This does not always relate directly to actual crime levels. For instance, whenever there is a high profile crime or reporting of a court case relating to a particularly heinous crime from several years earlier, we notice an increase in activity in community alert groups.

While crime obviously has rural and urban dimensions, isolation means fear is a much greater factor in rural areas. When people do not have immediate neighbours, they are obviously more afraid of what might happen to them, whether someone will come to their aid and even about when they might be discovered. Cases of elderly people being tortured, robbed and left tied up are thankfully rare, but they do occur and further fuel these fears. Crime prevention and detection are important but of equal importance is creating an environment in which people feel safe. Muintir na Tíre and community alert play a vital role in providing this safe environment, through means such as text alert, the new mobile app, Cairde, and supporting other schemes such as the seniors alert scheme. While communities can do a great deal for themselves, they still need improved support from An Garda Síochána and the judicial and legislative authorities.

Muintir na Tíre has a memorandum of understanding with An Garda Síochána for the operation of community alert. The partnership which also includes our funders, the Department of Justice and Equality and the HSE, works well. It has allowed for efficient and effective solutions to problems such as the recently introduced text alert rebate scheme. It should continue to be a platform for providing solutions to rural crime and community safety problems. Community policing is vital in providing this support. In the years of financial restraint from 2008 community policing has been hit particularly hard, locally and centrally. When resources were limited, the role of the community garda was often the first to be hit, as resources were directed towards what were thought to be more urgent areas. This has had the effect of damaging the relationship between communities and An Garda Síochána. That relationship needs to be rebuilt urgently.

I will leave members to read in their own good time about the history, structure and mode of operation of Community Alert set out in our submission and move to page 8 which deals with community text alert. Community text alert was formally launched as a community alert programme in 2013 in partnership with the IFA, Neigbourhood Watch and An Garda Síochána. It has certainly caught the public's imagination. Over 700 groups have registered for the initiative which receives regular positive media attention. Well over 1,000,000 texts per annum are being issued. Community text alert is often quoted as having provided the vital cog in crime detection and local Garda management often points to reduced crime levels in areas where the scheme is properly implemented. Community text alert areas are highly visible through the erection of highly visible and identifiable signage which includes the telephone number of the nearest 24-hour Garda station, to which suspicious activity can be reported. On receipt of such a call, gardaí will verify the information and can then issue an SMS text message to all registered recipients in the area. There is also the option of including surrounding areas where this might be useful, for example, in the case of a moving vehicle.

The success of community text alert is due to the fast and efficient dispersal of information between communities and the Garda. There is also a deterrent effect through the visible signage erected. However, equally effective benefits, although less obvious, arise through the organisation of community text alert groups as volunteers to visit houses to explain and gather contact numbers and watch out for older or more vulnerable neighbours. The last 12 months have seen much change in community text alert, with Muintir na Tíre having had to take over the role as the main issuer of text messages and also with new technology being introduced. The new Cairde mobile app is an example.

Policing in Ireland is famous for its reliance on the support of communities and the public at large. In previous decades most rural communities had a resident garda. This has changed because of the financial constraints since 2008. Many rural Garda stations have closed. Initially, it was explained that resources could be better used by having more gardaí on patrol, rather than sitting in a station. There was a promise that community engagement would continue through deploying resources to have gardaí available at certain times in public buildings such as community centres, but that has never happened to any great extent. As resources tightened in Garda districts during the same period, one of the first casualties in many areas was the community garda, as personnel were reassigned to roles that were seen as more pressing. While this might have been necessary in the short term, it has had a long-term impact. Most people do not now know a local garda and this has serious implications in the passing of information to An Garda Síochána and increased fear of crime. While community text alert has alleviated it somewhat, it is a one-way communication tool. Members should note that this change primarily affected rural communities, as greater numbers in urban communities meant community engagement could continue to a great extent.

During the same period resources for community policing at central level were also severely cut. The Garda community relations office has reduced in numbers and there is now only one sergeant responsible for the entire country. While we appreciate his help and work very well with him, it severely curtails what can be achieved in our partnership. Historically, the community relations bureau had one inspector, two sergeants, two gardaí and two administrative staff, but, as I say, it has been reduced to one person. These inadequate resources, coupled with the Garda management structure, hinder the central dissemination of best practice. That leads to practical difficulties in areas such as community text alert. None of this is a criticism of individual gardaí, with whom we have an excellent working relationship, it is simply the end result of the provision of inadequate resources. We would like to see increased resources at central level and a return to each community having an allocated garda who would be known to it. While we appreciate that these are operational matters outside the direct control of the committee or the Department, the issues must be highlighted. In that regard, we welcome the recent report of the Commission on the Future of Policing in Ireland, in particular as it relates to district policing.