Mr. Richard Guiney:

I thank the Chairman. What Senator Ruane had to say about perceptions of safety was absolutely spot on. In Dublin city centre, we do not have the kind of levels of crime there are in other cities, yet people do not feel safe. For example, we do not have the levels of knife crime that are in a number of UK cities or the gun crime that occurs in other cities. We have been very conscious of why it is people do not feel safe. Why do we have very low perceptions of safety? One of the things we did during the Better City For All process was to look at people who are very vulnerable. As Senator Ruane said, young people are not consciously engaging in behaviour they believe to be intimidating. They are not engaging in criminal behaviour but they are behaving in a way that instils a degree of fear or anxiety in others. Better City For All was about addressing the needs of people who, for various reasons, find themselves on the street in congregated settings. In the city at present a lot of very good work is being done by voluntary groups, but it is not integrated into the overall supports and addressing the needs of people be those addiction or mental health issues. Those services exist and can be better co-ordinated. There is more to be done in the space of what we were trying to do with Better City For All. We can achieve a lot in assisting people with their needs and addressing those perceptions of safety held by the wider community.

The engagement between the Garda and communities has been mentioned a few times. There was a small areas policing initiative a number of years ago, which we found to be incredibly effective. That was where members of the Garda were assigned a specific location in the city. The same principles were also applied in the north-east inner city. People got to know a garda in that community Garda response. We found that was very effective in addressing many low-lying issues on the ground and engaging with people who were behaving in a way that was instilling anxiety in others. I would like to see more being done with that kind of community Garda approach. We found it to be incredibly effective.

More generally, if we can focus on some of those overall solutions, we will get a lot out of the processes. We do not live in a society that is as dangerous as other locations. We can certainly match the general levels of safety and well-being if we just make those correct interventions.