Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The person will be based in the north inner city working closely with community groups, as Deputy O'Sullivan and Deputy Haughey said, and with Dublin City Council in making these arrangements. Once appointed, arrangements for the remaining board to include community representation will be finalised. A meeting of the community consultative forum will convene following appointment of the chair to ensure there is ongoing wider community participation and feedback on various aspects of the programme. The Secretary General of my Department has established an oversight group to support the work of the ministerial task force and to ensure these actions are monitored and implemented. That group held its first meeting on 6 April and discussed progress and a list of actions from the Mulvey report. It is expected to meet again today.

Some of the things that have happened are €1 million was invested in sports and youth projects, a multi-use games pitch in Sheriff Street community centre, a fit-out of the new premises for Ballybough boxing club, improvement works to pitches at Sheriff Street youth club and Larkin Community College. Small grants and equipment were distributed to about 40 local youth groups and sports clubs and a local GAA and soccer coaching programme was supported. I was glad to see the Deputies out at Scoil Uí Chonaill in Clontarf the other day. A full-time local sports co-ordinator was employed to make the most of the local facilities and get people involved. There was €700,000 spent on community projects targeting children, including the successful Bally Mac Sheriff Halloween festival, local library and school based projects targeting reading and digital skills, the Brighter Futures restorative practice projects across two age groups in the area and funding for third level access programmes. There were 15 local drugs projects supported and grants to support local arts projects and men's sheds community garden project, which were all very successful. There was €3 million spent on the physical improvement of Ballybough House and Courtney Place, Ballybough and road resurfacing works at Sean McDermott Street, Railway Street, Cumberland Street North, James Joyce Street, Beaver Street and Buckingham Street Upper to improve the physical aspect of the place. There were improvement works in Mountjoy Square and Portland Place park and internal and external refurbishing of the Sean McDermott Street pool.

I congratulate former chief superintendent Leahy who was appointed by the independent Policing Authority to be assistant commissioner. He was a superb policeman, really on top of his job and I hope his successor will do the same.

Deputy Haughey raised the issue of gangland crime and the checkpoint. It is unnerving but necessary, given the situation that has applied there for some time. The Garda Commissioner is overseeing the operation of the Garda special crime task force to enhance the response to organised crime. The task force has been in operation since July 2016, has made serious inroads and has a big success rate. Operation Hybrid was established to co-ordinate the response to violent crime in the area and address public concerns about community safety. Operations are reviewed on a weekly basis to maintain that kind of impetus. The Government has approved an extra €55 million for An Garda Síochána to assist in a number of initiatives including concentrated policing which targets gang-related crime. Obviously we will look at the question of Fitzgibbon Street Garda station being opened. It is an iconic building and there is work to be done there.

I will go down there on Monday with the Minister, Deputy Donohoe, to look at many of these projects. Joe Costello and others are all welcome to turn up in the afternoon.

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