Paul McAuliffe (Dublin North West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

As Covid forced many people in society to withdraw from our public spaces, unfortunately, levels of antisocial behaviour crept in. As we head into a period when, hopefully, things will begin to open again and we will make greater use of our outdoor spaces, I and many other Members of this House want to make sure that they are safe places to be. Unfortunately, over recent weeks and months, we have seen an increase in incidents and high-profile incidents, in particular, of antisocial behaviour. I want to be very careful in saying that while some of these incidents involved young people, they are in no way emblematic of young people in Ireland, or of society as a whole.

What is the Government doing to tackle this issue? It is critically important to support traders, communities and people who have been restricted for so long, so that when they come back into circulation, they can do so in a safe place. We have seen the incidents reported online. A young lady was pushed off the platform of a train station. There have been incidents in Malahide with cars being attacked by groups of people. There was a looting incident in my area, in a place one would never see such an incident.

What can be done to tackle this issue? The youth justice strategy, which the Department of Justice has brought forward, is an important step. The antisocial behaviour forum, which Minister of State, Deputy Browne, chairs, is an important forum. In fact, it has been quite successful in dealing with its first issue, namely, scrambler bikes, which Members will be tired of hearing me talking about. It has dealt comprehensively with that issue. I urge the forum to move on and look at how we can ensure we have safe public spaces.

That needs to be done in two ways. We need a significant increase in gardaí and in the number of on-foot gardaí. I realise that is an operational matter, but it is something we need to communicate to the Commissioner. We need high-profile policing and greater visibility of policing in our communities. Our community gardaí do fantastic work, but there are blockages in the system. My station in Finglas had a fantastic community sergeant, John O'Reilly, to whom our community paid great credit. Unfortunately, for us, he has been promoted and we await a replacement for him. We must ensure those vacancies are not left for a significant period.

The Minister of State knows about the campaigning work we have done in Ballymun and the Ballymun – A Brighter Future report, which suggested increasing the number of gardaí by a factor of approximately 50 because it has one of the lowest representations of gardaí. We must also invest in youth services, ensure cutbacks made almost a decade ago are addressed as a priority, ensure street work and outreach work helps those young people who are most in need and ensure we reach those communities and households where people are engaging in antisocial behaviour. Will the Minister of State update the House on the work the Government is doing on this issue and do everything it can to tackle it?

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