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

I thank Ms Willis. I want to drill into several issues. The Commissioner said that crime levels are not particularly above those of 2019 and essentially are on a par with them. It has been suggested that one of the reasons for this is that people have stopped reporting crime as frequently. Crime may be up but reported crime may be static. I would welcome the views of the witnesses on this.

I am sure that Mr. Anthony Gallagher, who is a retired Garda inspector, is known to the witnesses. He was a very useful witness at our previous meeting. One of the points he made, which I have often heard said, was that there are a couple of gangs amounting to 24 or 25 individuals who are recidivist offenders. He offered the view that a lot of crime is committed by a small number of people. To use that phrase, if only we could round up the usual suspects. This is in tandem with what the assistant commissioner has just said. There might be a large number of people on the streets but they are not necessarily causing any direct problem. There is a small group that has a menacing method and commits a lot of crime. If it is as simple as this could it be a case of identifying these people and bringing them before the courts and prosecuting them? Is it as simple as this? I assume it is not.

The assistant commissioner mentioned the community safety partnership. The plan for Operation Citizen is a community-based plan. I am a great supporter of community policing. I have seen it do really well in my district of Naas and north Kildare, and the area I represent as a constituency Deputy. I have a question about the city centre. Is a community safety partnership or community policing model appropriate for an area that has some residential areas but also has tens of thousands of people travelling in and out every day? It is not a normal community in this sense. Whether people are perpetrators or victims of crime, there is a large number of transient people going in and out of town for work or study or to socialise. When I heard it announced over the summer, it did not sit right with me. This is not a normal community; it is a city centre. By definition it has multiples of the population who might be living locally and using it. Is this the best approach in these circumstances?