Neale Richmond (Dublin Rathdown, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I appreciate the Minister of State’s fulsome reply. I also appreciate the ongoing work of the Minister of State, the Minister, Deputy Humphreys, particularly in the context of the recent engagement with various community, policing and business fora. However, people want to see direct action. They want to see the gardaí on the street. They want to feel safe walking down O'Connell street. They want to feel safe allowing their children - maybe not their young children, but their adult children - to be out at night as our communities and economy open up. I fully take on board the Minister of State’s point that the responsibility lies with the Garda Commissioner, and rightly so. That separation is extremely important.

Budget day is approaching. The Minister of State referred to last year’s financial allocation, which was welcome. It was a huge increase under Minister, Deputy McEntee. However, we need to see that maintained in order to allow the Commissioner to have the resources to follow a fulsome strategy that can provide confidence in every member of public in our capital city, in our major towns and in our villages to know that the streets that they will walk down will have a Garda presence and that gardaí in their duties. We need to maintain Garda numbers and the necessary level of resources - the, bikes, vehicles, stab vests, ICT infrastructure, etc. - in order that when crimes are reported, victims are not obliged to wait many weeks for an acknowledgement. Gardaí need to be freed up from administrative duties in order that they can police.

The second point of vital importance goes beyond policing. It relates to engagement with the community. It is important that the Minister of State and the Minister work in conjunction with the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, Deputy Michael McGrath, in respect of the new community safety fund. More than €16 million in cash was seized from criminals. That money needs to be ploughed back into communities and into resources in order to keep people away from criminality. We must ensure that the resources are there to address worrying problems such as knife crime, drug crime, organised crime or the racial and gender-based attacks that we have seen in recent weeks.

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