Tommy Broughan (Dublin Bay North, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I wrote to the Taoiseach and other Ministers at the end of May following the appalling series of gun murders in Dublin Bay North and asking what steps the Government was going to take. I detailed the outstanding work of our schools and a wide range of Dublin Bay North community bodies in fields like employment and enterprise, childcare and elder care, youth work and sports and drug rehabilitation. At that time, many community leaders who admired the Mulvey report on the north inner city, Creating a Brighter Future, believed that a similar programme and implementation board should be established for Dublin Bay North. The north inner city initiative, which my colleague, Deputy Maureen O'Sullivan, was heavily involved in bringing forward, includes tackling crime and drugs; maximising education and training; integrating social services; and improving the physical landscape. There is a strong belief that we need a co-ordinated response involving all the existing local agencies, perhaps led by Northside Partnership, An Garda Síochána, Dublin City and Fingal County Councils and key Government Departments. It should be fully resourced to tackle all the issues which gave rise to the recent upsurge of crime.

Is there a case for a national programme of support? Seven or eight of the 40 constituencies are particularly badly affected; the Taoiseach's own constituency is one of them. Will he launch a new national strategy to support investment in all areas experiencing cumulative disadvantage, perhaps led by a high-level interdepartmental group? I know that Departments are engaged on their own in carrying out important work. The Department of Children and Youth Affairs is carrying out a major reform of youth services but funding in the sector for most of our constituency was less than €2 million in 2018. The Department of Rural and Community Development, whose Minister is seated beside the Taoiseach, runs the social inclusion and community activation programme, SICAP. However, as the Minister knows, the community enhancement programme only allocated €700,000 for Dublin. There is also continuing criticism of Seetec in respect of employment and youth employment.

With regard to legislation, after eight and a half years the Government has not brought forward the housing (regulation of approved housing bodies) Bill or reformed the Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1997 to strengthen estate management. Despite the €1.76 billion 2019 Garda budget, people still feel generally that there needs to be much greater visibility of gardaí, especially in the evenings, with a doubling of community gardaí. When is the Government going to publish the long-promised policing and community safety Bill? The national recorded crime statistics for quarter 1 of 2019, which are statistics under reservation, show shocking increases across a whole range of crimes, including sexual offences, attempts or threats to murder and assault, kidnapping, robbery and extortion, fraud and deception, and controlled drug offences. All these are happening on the Taoiseach's watch and affecting all our constituencies, rural and urban, with seven or eight constituencies particularly badly affected.

What is the latest position with regard to the report of the working group chaired by Mr. Justice Sheehan? It is considering decriminalisation in respect of small amounts of drugs for personal use, which would allow the Garda to focus on very serious crime and drugs pushing. I understand the Taoiseach has the report but has not yet brought it to Cabinet.

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