Róisín Shortall (Dublin North West, Labour)

The whole purpose of the review of the JPCs is to assess whether they are operating effectively and providing a real impetus to collaborative measures to support crime prevention and community safety. Their effectiveness is being assessed. We all agree the approach to tackling crime at community level is for all of the players to engage. The idea of the JPCs is that they provide a forum for all the interested parties - critically, the statutory bodies and the local communities - to collaborate on how they might respond to problems of crime locally and especially, as Deputy O'Brien mentioned, the prevention of crime. Very often the concerns go far beyond the actual issues of crime and extend to the causes of crime as well. The JPCs provide a very effective forum and we look forward to the information and the views of members coming back through the review currently underway.

The local policing fora at neighbourhood level provide an effective response. I attended one in my constituency last night and another one last week. If we can achieve that level of engagement at local level, where people play an active part in addressing the crime problems in their immediate estate or locality, that is the solution in the long-term. There is no easy solution. Clearly the Garda has the principal role to play in combatting crime but it is about all the players, in particular the community, engaging and being active. As we all agree, that is the most effective route to combatting crime.

See this speech in context