Chris Andrews (Dublin Bay South, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I would like to acknowledge the huge importance of community gardaí. I would also like to acknowledge the work and professionalism of former Superintendent Joe Gannon, who has recently retired from his role in Pearse Street. I also acknowledge the huge good work that community Garda Derek Dempsey has done over 34 years of service in Ringsend, Irishtown and Sandymount. I wish them both well in their retirement.

We all accept that we cannot have a garda standing on every corner. I also feel it is important to acknowledge we will not police our way out of the almost daily and ongoing violence that occurs in areas like Hanover Street East, where a local crèche regularly has to evacuate staff and children from its outdoor areas because of gangs fighting. We need to improve education and job opportunities for young people and we need to invest in assertive youth work. I recently met the Talk About Youth project, which does fantastic work with young people in Pearse Street but does not have a designated youth space. It is pushed from Billy to Jack, never knowing when it will have to move on again. SAYS youth club is in the same boat, having had to move its own youth space and it is now in temporary space, with no certainty.

This can be resolved if there is genuine determination. I am inundated with messages from residents who are fearful for their children's safety and their own safety. Bride Street and Ross Road are like a sweet shop for drug dealers. Garda Shane Griffin from Kevin Street Garda station is doing great work, but he cannot do it on his own and he needs resources. Older people are afraid to leave their homes. Hanover Street, which I mentioned, is regularly like a fight zone. Dublin City Council and the Garda need to work together to tackle this.

What we need is gardaí who are visible on a very regular basis but, again, this needs resources. The Mulvey report suggested a solution could be found to alleviate the issues in the inner city. It identified serious challenges in the north inner-city and the State has assigned resources to tackle these ongoing issues. What we need is a Mulvey-style response to the challenges in the south inner-city so that hard-to-engage youths are targeted and the systemic issues can be deconstructed, addressed and resolved for the betterment of all.

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