James Browne (Wexford, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I echo my ministerial colleague, Deputy McEntee, in thanking the House for the opportunity to discuss this important topic today. The Minister has spoken of her understanding of the full meaning of community safety. While we can all agree that crime prevention measures are critical to improving the quality of life for all communities, crime prevention is just one facet of community safety. Community safety in the most complete sense requires the proactive and ongoing input of a range of public and community services and cannot be met by any single State agency or voluntary organisation alone.

When we think about successful communities, meaning communities where people are content, supported and provided with opportunities to thrive, they have at their heart a committed team of community organisations, residents and the support of An Garda Síochána and other State bodies. A collaborative approach is the key to creating a community that people enjoy living in. That is why the Government is seeking to foster a multi-agency, cross-collaborative approach. By harnessing those community and State services that focus on mental health issues, educational work, drug prevention and other key issues to work together, we can make meaningful contributions to local communities throughout this country.

I accept that responses must be community-specific. For that reason, public engagement is also an integral part of making communities safer and more resilient. Deputies may be aware that a public consultation was launched by my Department earlier this year on the development of a new youth justice strategy. We intend to bring the final strategy, taking account of the input we received as part of this consultation process, to the Government before the end of this year. Issues such as the need for early intervention and family support, coupled with collaborative working by agencies and community partners, are central to the approach contained within the youth justice strategy. The importance of the strategy is endorsed by and prioritised in the programme for Government.

A key priority for the new strategy will be to strengthen and expand the role of the Garda youth diversion projects and other community-based initiatives, including those working with the Probation Service. Bringing the full range of relevant interventions together in a coherent and holistic response to youth crime will support the objective of diverting young people from crime and anti-social behaviour.

The strategy has been developed in light of the experience of State agencies and community partners who work with a comparatively small number of children and young people who come into contact with the criminal justice system. This work is built on the 2008 youth justice strategy and the subsequent Youth Justice Action Plan 2014-2018. It tries to deal with many of the gaps that remain as well as new challenges which have emerged. The strategy will align with the new community safety policy as well as with successor frameworks to the current National Policy Framework for Children and Young Adults 2014-2020, which is overseen by the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth.

In terms of supports and programmes currently available, there are some 105 Garda youth diversion projects across the State. The intention is to develop this service further so that it is available to every child in the State who could benefit from it through an ongoing expansion of existing services and, where necessary, the foundation of new projects. Further, the projects are being developed to provide family support to the parents of young people participating in the projects and who are undertaking early intervention and preventative work.

The role of the projects regarding harder to engage young people is being enhanced and extended as part of the evolving youth justice system.

My Department is supporting ongoing development of practice in Garda youth diversion programmes through the action research project led by the University of Limerick. The action research project works directly with front-line youth justice workers from local projects to develop interventions and best practice. Based on initial outcomes from the action research project and evaluations of a number of pilot projects, it is intended to develop proposals to expand existing services to ensure national coverage and a stronger focus on difficult issues such as the hard-to-reach cohort.

The programme for Government also contains a commitment to convene an expert forum on anti-social behaviour to consider the effectiveness of existing legislation and propose new ways forward, including new powers for An Garda Síochána and additional interventions to support parenting of offenders. As Minister of State, I convened an initial meeting of the new forum on anti-social behaviour on 27 October.

Turning to the critical role of An Garda Síochána in making our communities safer, the Government is prioritising the implementation of the recommendations of the Commission on the Future of Policing in Ireland through the four-year implementation plan, A Policing Service for our Future. As the Minister, Deputy McEntee, has already noted, the policing and community safety Bill being drafted to give legislative effect to the recommendations of the commission's report is a key element of this implementation plan, redefining, as it will, policing to include prevention of harm to those who are vulnerable, and placing a statutory obligation on relevant State agencies to co-operate with An Garda Síochána on the broader issue of community safety.

The provision of record resources in budget 2021 will further support An Garda Síochána in carrying out its vital crime-prevention role in our local communities. We all acknowledge the extraordinary policing challenges presented by the Covid-19 pandemic. I pay tribute to gardaí throughout the country for the exceptional contribution they have made to making our communities safer. In particular, I mention the critical importance of Operation Faoiseamh which continues to provide support and outreach to victims of domestic abuse as well as the crucial work of all gardaí working on Operation Fanacht and Operation Navigation to ensure public compliance with the public health guidelines through the four Es approach of engaging, educating, encouraging and, only as a last resort, enforcing.

The positive community-centred tone of this approach, in line with our tradition of policing by consent, has been recognised by the Policing Authority. I also thank the public at large for their individual and collective efforts in combating this virus. I recognise the hardship this has brought on many people and businesses throughout the country, especially in the service and retail sectors, at a time of great stress and worry. Without the buy-in from the public in general along with our own and our neighbours' determination to protect each other, our communities would be less safe today and into the future.

In tandem with this suite of Covid-19 Garda operations and other policing initiatives, An Garda Síochána is continuing to prioritise its annual crime-prevention operations. Operation Thor continues to focus on the anticipated increase in the number of burglaries and associated criminal activity that usually occur in the winter months by undertaking targeted enforcement and preventative activity. The uninterrupted policing of organised crime during the policing of the pandemic has undoubtedly contributed to recent successes in seizing controlled drugs and in the apprehension of those involved in the sale and supply of the substances involved. In the first six months of 2020, Garda operations to counter organised crime resulted in the seizure of €13.6 million in illicit drugs as well as 13 firearms and 2,000 rounds of ammunition. An Garda Síochána has also continued to raise public awareness of online fraud, recognising that this category of crime has, to an extent, benefited from Covid-19 public health restrictions by targeting vulnerable members of our communities. In a bid to tackle the constantly evolving avenues for cybercrime, €1.8 million has been allocated in budget 2021 for the expansion of the Garda National Cyber Crime Bureau.

My Department also continues to provide a number of financial supports to local communities to support community safety. Supports include administering a grant aid scheme supporting community groups wishing to establish community-based CCTV systems in their area. To date 29 applications have been approved under the scheme involving approved grants awarded totalling more than €752,000. Eligible groups, including community groups and local authorities nationwide, can apply for grant aid of up to 60% of the total capital cost of a proposed CCTV system up to a maximum of €40,000. Last year the grant aid scheme was extended beyond new CCTV systems to allow funding applications for an extension or upgrade of existing community CCTV systems which are incomplete or obsolete. Applicants can now also seek a once-off grant of up to €5,000 for minor maintenance costs. The significance of these schemes in helping to detect crime in local communities is well recognised and funding has been provided for the continuation of the scheme in budget 2021.

The programme for Government includes a commitment to continue to support and prioritise community crime prevention, including the Garda text alert scheme. I am grateful for the opportunity to outline the measures being taken to improve community safety and prevent crime nationwide. I assure the House that the Government will continue actively to support collaborative progress towards achieving a safer society for all.

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