Gary Gannon (Dublin Central, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

I am here to discuss crime and antisocial behaviour in Cabra. I want to say before I do that I do not believe Cabra is by any means different from any other part of the city or the country. Cabra is a very well-settled place full of people who love living there. Why would they not? There are issues in Cabra, as there are throughout other parts of Dublin, with an element of antisocial behaviour and some degree of crime. The issues in Cabra are by no means out of control, lawless or any different from what has happened over the past half a decade, ten years or beyond.

What is different is that people in Cabra believe that when something does happen - some degree of antisocial behaviour or, as we have seen recently, incidents where motorbikes have been burnt or where there have been large congregations of people engaged in fights and that sort of carry-on - there have not been any gardaí around. That is probably indicative of a trend emerging throughout the country whereby we simply do not see gardaí on the streets. When a call is made for whatever reason, be it a burglary, a domestic violence report or some form of antisocial behaviour happening outside a person's home, the Garda is called and gardaí may arrive the next day or the day after that. It has led to a sense that, to some degree, the gardaí are no longer themselves capable of providing an adequate standard of policing.

I raised this issue specifically in the context of Cabra because I have had a couple of meetings with residents there in recent weeks and months, but I could have raised it about anywhere. I simply want to ask Deputy Harris, in his capacity as Minister for Justice, what is the plan. We read reports yesterday of dwindling Garda numbers. One of the figures given was that, in November 2022, we had 13,907 gardaí, down from 14,750 in March 2020. I assure the Minister that I do not believe there is solely a policing solution to antisocial behaviour - far from it.

I believe in a multifaceted approach that involves: encouraging youth clubs; engaging with sport; positive role models; and engagements through our education systems. However, at a certain point we also just want to see some gardaí on the street. I am coming to the Minister on behalf of the people of Cabra - and also to talk about Dublin Central more broadly - and to ask what the plan is.

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