Mark Ward (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank all the contributors to this debate. It was an informed and good debate but we also saw the need out there in our communities. I also welcome the support of the Minister of State for this Bill and for putting the moneys back into communities. While we may differ slightly on how that goes, it is a starting point and I look forward to this Bill proceeding through the proper legislative scrutiny. I will be seeking Government support on that.

As I mentioned already, I am from north Clondalkin. When I moved up there first, there was nothing. There were no schools, shops, transport or buses. There was nothing. Our community had to go out and fight for everything it had and has now. Young people, including family and friends of mine, fell into addiction and crime to escape the poverty inflicted on them. This poverty was created by Government policies. This is the same Government which went on to blame the people for falling into addiction and crime. As a young boy, I remember playing football and the parents getting together. We were like ragball rovers. They did the best they had with nothing; absolutely no resources whatsoever but they did the best they had. That is the community resilience we need to build on and start supporting and resourcing.

I was on the board of the Clondalkin drug and alcohol task force for a number of years. We wanted to start an under-18 project for outreach with members of our community who were falling into criminality and drug use. It had not got the funding. It was as simple as that. The normal funding structures were not there. When the Minister of State mentioned long-term funding, this fund we are talking about today, to return the money back from criminality, would fund projects such as this. It would give projects such as this a kick-start and enable them to go out to meet the needs of our communities.

I was also on South Dublin County Council. The Minister of State mentioned the community safety forum, the local policing forum and the joint policing committee. I was a member of all of them while I was on the council. They do serve a good purpose within our community and I have no problem with any restructuring, additional funding or anything which will enhance community safety. I have no problem with that whatsoever. However, we need to get the balance right with regard to community safety - the structures are already there - and building the community resilience we were talking about earlier on by building up the likes of the Clondalkin drugs and alcohol task force, Ronanstown youth services and the services around Adamstown, Rathcoole, Newcastle and other areas in my constituency. We need to start building up those communities and giving them an opportunity to apply for funding which has been taken out of the pockets of criminals.

We also need to work on how we will engage with those on the margins of society, such as the young people who could be falling into criminality in our areas. With regard to those families I mentioned earlier on that have to look out their windows all the time and see this activity and open drug dealing outside their own front doors and who are afraid to look at these young people for fear of reprisals, we need to tell those families we are putting things in place which will support them and stop these families from moving out of the area because of the fear, reprisals and intimidation some of them are going through.

We also need to tell the mother I spoke about earlier on, who went to the credit union to get a loan to pay these unscrupulous drug dealers and criminals, that we are listening to her. We need to tell her that the money, which was taken from her and went to criminals but which was taken back from criminals, goes back into the community and will stop children such as her own falling into drug use or into the hands of these unscrupulous dealers.

The vast majority of people in my area are good, honest, hard-working people who do their best on a daily basis to get on with their lives. It is the minority which upsets this majority of people in our community. This Bill takes away the money from the minority causing all the upset in our communities and puts it into structures, community safety programmes and services which will look after the majority of people in our communities. That is what I hope for.

I look forward to seeing how this proceeds from now on but today is a good starting point and we will take it from there.

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