Martin Kenny (Sligo-Leitrim, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

First, I will go back to the restorative justice, which is an interesting topic. The data from the IPRT mentions the very high levels of reoffending, particularly among younger people, in Ireland. I wonder is there any comparative data for people who have engaged in the restorative justice process in respect of that. I suspect that there would be a much lower rate of reoffending because of the nature of that. I wonder how much study and work has been done in respect of that.

Mr. Guiney spoke about the fact that we generally live in relatively safe communities and yet we have this perception that they are not safe even when they are. I have spoken on numerous occasions to people who work in Dublin city centre, perhaps in the night-time economy, who leave a bar after a shift late at night and have to make their way home. There may not be a taxi close by. They feel fearful trying to get to a place where they can find a taxi. There is a sense, while I absolutely respect that we know it is relatively safe compared to many other cities in the world, that if people have a perception of not being safe they are not safe in themselves. We have to respect that. One of the big issues that comes up in this regard is that they do not see local gardaí in the area. They do not see the patrol car. They do not feel that they are protected in that way. The small area policing is part of that but, particularly in that late-hour scenario and after dark, in the public transport services, DART stations, Luas stations and such places, there are similar issues where people feel unsafe. We can say sometimes it is unwarranted but, at the same time, there are incidents that people will point to which will give them clear verification of the reason they feel unsafe. We cannot be blind to that. We need to make sure that we have adequate policing in place so that people have that sense of security as they move around, particularly late at night or in the evening.