Terence Flanagan (Dublin North East, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Ceann Comhairle for giving me the opportunity to raise this very important issue and the Minister for Justice and Equality for being here to hear about it. Anti-social behaviour in Dublin city centre is an obvious problem, particularly around O'Connell Street, which is our premier street in the city centre along with Grafton Street. Tourists coming from abroad are getting a very bad impression. I am particularly concerned about the amount of drug taking and the negative impact of that on businesses in the city centre. Some constituents have contacted me to say they are scared going around different parts of the city centre. They are being approached and there is an element of aggressive begging, as mentioned recently in an edition of "Prime Time". Some Dubliners do not feel safe in the city centre. The problem here seems to be worse than in some other capital cities. Obviously, the Garda does a lot of hard work on the ground. Community policing has become the new norm in many areas and a lot of good work is done. However, we need to ensure that there is dedicated policing for our city centre streets to target drug dealing in particular. People want to see more Garda patrols not just in the city centre but around different parts of the city. Obviously, I welcome the fact that there will be more gardaí on the beat to do that. That is a good result.

New York City, which had a major problem over the past number of decades, has cleaned up its streets and has been successful in a number of strategies it adopted to target outdoor drug dealing. It also has the stop-and-frisk policy. I am not saying that we need to adopt all these strategies, but could we look to other cities which have been successful in cutting down on the element of anti-social behaviour that can take place in all cities?

One proposal I made to the gardaí at Store Street Garda station was that a Garda shed or booth should be available on O'Connell Street to ensure more of a Garda presence. Certainly, one should see a Garda within a certain distance in major cities. Having visited Paris, I know there are always mobile police units around which are available to respond to various crimes that may be committed. Has the Minister looked at this measure?

I am glad to see the Minister for Health here. We know that the budget for local drugs task forces has been retained in the most recent budget. This is good, but more could be done for people who find themselves in difficulty, particularly those who are addicted to drugs and who use crime to feed their habit. I do not remember the situation being as bad five or even ten years ago. The situation has escalated and this issue needs to be examined. I know zero tolerance has had a bad name because of other Governments which abused the word, but a zero-tolerance approach is needed in the city centre to ensure that people feel safe, encourage more tourists into the city centre and ensure that businesses do well.

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