James Lawless (Kildare North, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

One of those witnesses was Mr. Adrian Cummins, chief executive of the Restaurants Association of Ireland, RAI. I will drill down into some of the things that he said. My questions are really about city centre policing and some of the issues that have emerged. He said that in a survey by the Restaurants Association of Ireland 100% of the respondents said Dublin is less safe today than it was pre-pandemic. He said that customers have told him they feel unsafe entering the city at night. He cited a Red C poll which said that only 20% of adults believe they are safe and secure in Dublin during the day and only 7% said they felt safe at night time. That is a major source of concern to his members and to me as Chair of the committee having heard that. I want to give the Commissioner an opportunity to respond to that. How does he feel hearing those statistics from people who are working in the retail and hospitality sectors in the city?