Frances Fitzgerald (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I am grateful to the Deputy for raising this important matter for debate. I am, of course, very much aware of the concerns about crime and anti-social behaviour in the city centre and the potential impact for all who live in, work in and visit our capital city. Of course we want our capital city and its thoroughfares to be safe and secure places for the residents of Dublin and our visitors. As the Deputy will be aware, the Garda Commissioner is responsible for the deployment of Garda resources. However, as Minister for Justice and Equality, I am committed to supporting An Garda Síochána in providing a strong, visible policing presence in communities right across the country in order to help reduce crime. This includes Dublin city centre.

There is a Garda plan in place which is called the Dublin City Centre Policing Plan. I welcome this important plan. The Deputy spoke about zero tolerance. The vision expressed in the plan is to create a safe city to live, work, visit and enjoy, with Garda operations following the principle that no offence or behaviour will go unnoticed or unchallenged. In implementing the plan, the Garda approach includes dedicated high-visibility, uniformed patrols in key commercial and public thoroughfares. That is what we want to see, and we want to see more of it. A number of targeted city centre policing operations are in place. Operation Pier concentrates on the south quays, an area about which many people speak, and the Temple Bar area while Operation Spire is focused on O'Connell Street and the north inner city. There is also a specific public order unit which operates on a reactive basis as the need arises. Gardaí have also conducted a number of targeted operations in respect of the effects of begging in the area, particularly aggressive begging, which is very upsetting for people and which I am sure has been mentioned to the Deputy as well.

Gardaí have increased their activity in targeting the supply of illegal drugs in the area, with increased numbers of drug seizures and searches. According to the provisional statistics from the Garda Síochána Analysis Service for the first nine months of the year, the total number of drug searches has increased by 5% in the North Central (Store Street) division and by 24% in the South Central (Pearse Street) division. I also wish to acknowledge the work of An Garda Síochána, including work with the entertainment and night-time sector, in seeking to address problems of disorder associated with the abuse of alcohol. This remains a very serious issue in our society generally. Huge Garda resources must be deployed to support this effort, with a dedicated public order patrol van assigned to the city centre every Friday and Saturday night.

The Garda is very active. The latest provisional statistics collated by the Garda Síochána Analysis Service for the first nine months of the year show a positive trend. It is important that I put this on the record, because we do hear about a lot of particular incidents, but public order offences are down 7% in the South Central (Pearse Street) Garda division and down 19% in the North Central (Store Street) division. There is a very active police presence, which is having a deterrent effect.

I will be the first to say that we should not rely solely on statistics, but neither should we allow high-profile reports of individual incidents to cast our city in an unfairly negative light. We need a fair discussion about this.

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What is most important is the first hand, day-to-day experiences of shoppers, visitors residents and workers, who should feel safe in the city centre at all hours. I acknowledge that challenges remain to be addressed but I am confident that the ongoing efforts of the Garda and others will make a positive difference.

Our commitment to policing was very clearly demonstrated in the budget 2015 announcement on increased expenditure in the justice sector. This week I also announced that the Garda college in Templemore would take in 200 new recruits, which means that we will have 300 new recruits in 2015. A further 75 gardaí will be freed from their current airport duties because this work is being civilianised, and 75 gardaí who work on border and visa issues will also be freed up. This will provide a total of 450 gardaí who can contribute to the active policing of our communities. The budget also provides funding for the purchase and fit-out of more than 400 new vehicles which will offer a more visible Garda presence in all areas, including Dublin city centre.

The anti-social activities that the Deputy described are not simply policing issues. The context for finding solutions must involve Dublin city management, drug treatment centres and the business community. Tackling homelessness will have to be a part of the solution. My colleague, the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government, has allocated an additional €10.5 million to deal with homelessness. I commend Dublin City Council on the leadership it has shown in working with the Garda and facilitating the Dublin city joint policing committee, which includes a range of stakeholders whom I intend to meet at an early opportunity to investigate how I can further support these ongoing efforts to deal with the issues outlined by the Deputy.

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