Niall Collins (Limerick, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

When people come to live, work or socialise in Dublin, they want to have the experience of living in a modern, vibrant city which includes our many great historical and cultural buildings, as well as our sports amenities. We all welcome this and want to keep it that way. Unfortunately, there is a dark side to the capital city which we witnessed during the past week with the death of Mr. Jonathan Corrie in the shadow of the front gate of this building. We also saw in the past few days detailed on the front page of The Irish Daily Maila number of people engaged in drug taking at the rear of the Leinster House complex. Again, this happened in broad daylight, which was truly shocking.

Yesterday the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality heard from the Dublin City Business Association, which represents vintners, restaurants, hotels, businesses in the Temple Bar area and many other businesses operating in Dublin city centre. The delegation from the association told a tale of crime in Dublin city centre that was quite shocking. It told us about shoplifting, drug taking, handbag snatching, aggressive begging and mobile phone theft. Unfortunately, we have been raising this issue for the past few weeks and months with the Tánaiste who has been in denial. The association points out that the number of gardaí in Dublin city centre has fallen by about 12%, that seven of the eight Garda stations on the north and south sides of the Dublin city centre are are down approximately 160 gardaí. It also points out that the operation of the Garda roster is hampering the operations of its members' businesses and how members of the public live and work in Dublin city centre. To back all of this up, the association conducted an independent survey which detailed that 87% of people believed there should be a greater Garda presence in Dublin city centre.

A number of weeks ago my colleague, Deputy Barry Cowen, raised this issue with the Tánaiste. It is fair to describe her response as one of total denial and say there is a disconnect. The Government is in charge. There is a problem in Dublin city centre in respect of the issues I have outlined. Yesterday at the meeting of the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality, the Dublin City Business Association detailed it graphically. Is the Tánaiste willing to agree to implement what the association is looking for, namely, boosting garda number in Dublin city centre? Is she willing to agree to release a quantity of funds to allow An Garda Síochána to operate in a meaningful fashion, by example, by giving it an adequate overtime budget, and to deal with the concerns of people who live and work in Dublin city centre that are being raised by the legitimate representatives of the business representations in order that they can engage in their normal day-to-day business, personal and social lives unencumbered by the scourge of anti-social behaviour and crime?

See this speech in context