Frank Feighan (Sligo-Leitrim, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank Deputy McAuliffe for raising this important issue. An inevitable impact of the Covid-19 pandemic and the public health restrictions, which we put in place in order to control the transmission of the virus, has been a significantly decreased public presence on city centre streets during the last year. I fully appreciate this has resulted in some of those who need to be in the city centre at times feeling less safe due to this reduced footfall. The absence of activities, which would usually be available to young people outside of school hours, has in some locations led to increases in antisocial behaviour among these age groups. The Minister, Deputy Humphreys, is acutely aware of the impact this and, indeed, any antisocial behaviour has on local communities. An Garda Síochána has continued to roll out information-led policing operations in response to specific incidents of antisocial behaviour throughout the pandemic. It has also continued Operation Spire and Operation Pier, which specifically target antisocial behaviour, public order offences and street-level drug dealing in Dublin city centre. These operations are supplemented by the continually high-visibility patrols in support of the public health regulations, which can and do respond to antisocial behaviours.

Deputy McAuliffe may be interested to note that the Garda authorities have reported that statistics in April show a decrease of 11% in public order offences in the year to date. While clearly a significant element of this drop can be attributed to the public health restrictions, the Minister, Deputy Humphreys, is encouraged by the ongoing efforts to prevent antisocial behaviour. It is important we continue to do all we can to tackle such behaviour.

Both the programme for Government and the Justice Plan 2021 include a number of actions to tackle antisocial behaviour and to enhance community safety. The Minister of State, Deputy Browne, and the Minister, Deputy McEntee, recently launched the new Youth Justice Strategy 2021-2027, which provides a framework to prevent offending behaviour and divert children and young adults away from crime. The immediate priority within the strategy is to enhance engagement with children and young people who are most at risk of involvement in criminal activity, principally by strengthening the service available through the existing network of 105 Garda youth diversion projects across the State.

In line with a commitment in the programme for Government, the Minister of State, Deputy Browne, has also established the antisocial behaviour forum, providing an additional mechanism to focus on the factors that give rise to antisocial behaviour and to identify potential solutions. As Deputy McAuliffe is aware, the Department of Justice has recently committed to providing funding to communities to deliver projects in response to the antisocial use of scramblers and quad bikes, following consideration of this topic by a subgroup of the forum. The Minister, Deputy Humphreys, is committed to building on the existing momentum to deliver the various justice plan actions with a view to dealing with the antisocial behaviour in an effective and informed way.

I thank Deputy McAuliffe for our recent engagement with his Ballymun task force. There are many issues which we can work collaboratively on across Government. I also saw those issues regarding antisocial behaviour on social media. They were horrific and lives could have been lost at the rail station. It sends out the wrong message and it is something I hope we can address across the Department of Justice, An Garda Síochána and the various forums, as quickly as possible.

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