Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

It would be a good idea if we could read material into the record so that we do not lose contributions that people want to make.

I have a few points. First, I welcome the human rights focus of policing strategy - the right to feel safe in your home and on your street but also the right to have a chance to progress from a very difficult start. Many of the young people we are talking about here have such a very difficult start.

I am worried about the decision to leave outcomes vague in this strategy.

There are 31 objectives and 63 actions, but outcomes have not been specified. We need tangible measures to concentrate the mind and move away from a focus on process to one on delivery. The outcomes measured could include recidivism, breaking the grip of gangs on vulnerable communities and instances of certain types of offence, for example, knife crime and drug dealing. The focus on process is overwhelming the targets that we need to deliver.

Wider community commitment to supporting the police is crucial. We do not have a good track record of having that type of cross-silo work. To see a senior officials group established whose membership is not yet specified does not give me confidence that Departments, for example, the Departments of Education and Social Protection, and other entities that have a crucial role to play, for example, councils, are not named and their responsibilities committed to. It leaves me concerned. We need clear targets, we need defined responsibilities given to leaders, we need assigned budgets and we need authority. If those are not there and do not get developed quickly, we will fall short.

I support the area-based initiatives in the programme for Government. That approach is taken towards health, and what is happening in the north inner city and can be replicated in other communities. There are numerous communities that need it. The Greentown initiative is welcome, but we need a wider perspective. This cannot just affect criminal justice arrangements.

We should not confound the community engagement and community policing that the Minister of State, Deputy Hildegarde Naughton, outlined with the focus on acutely impacted communities. They are separate problems and we need separate approaches.

I do not have the time to address the matter in detail, but I refer the House to how the former assistant Garda commissioner, Dr. Jack Nolan, outlined the intimidation and fear that was gripping the community in one of our disadvantaged areas in Dublin 17. Gangs have a grip on the community, undermining confidence and people's ability to progress. We must break that grip before some of the other initiatives can work. Dr. Nolan's focus on disrupting gangs, diverting people with tailor-made programmes acutely related to the community's needs, dividends, recognition and successful people acting as role models is important. We need to build on the community services that are in place, for example, Sphere 17 in my area, and many other similar services in communities that are acutely disadvantaged.

I wish the Minister of State well and congratulate him on this initiative. It is an important area. He needs to let this policy evolve and put more effective delivery and implementation techniques in place than have been initially outlined.

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