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

We are grateful for Operation Tombola and the work of An Garda Síochána, Dublin City Council and Fingal County Council and, indeed, all of the local community groups and volunteers who work so hard at this period to make the festival of Hallowe'en safe and enjoyable. There is obviously a special responsibility on business to ensure materials such as pallets and tyres do not end up in the wrong hands. The Minister listed the legislation available to An Garda Síochána, but he told me before the summer that there were no Garda members in the north division of the Dublin metropolitan region who are assigned to full-time public order duties. He told me that the north Dublin division received ten new inspectors and 20 sergeants but there appears to remain a major gap in that area. The Minister told me also that €15.3 million had been allocated for the youth diversion programme in 2019 and referred me to 106 related schemes. However, he has an action research project at the University of Limerick and we are wondering if the experience of that project comes down to our area on Dublin's north side. I refer finally to behaviour warnings issued to children for the period 2007 to 2019. There has been almost no activity in that area. While there was such activity approximately a decade ago, it seems to have lapsed entirely as a way to address problems with children in the area.

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