Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy for raising this important matter and I take the point he makes about multifaceted approaches and solutions. I know he believes in community safety partnerships, diversion programmes and all of that, as do I, but we will take that as read and for another day because he is raising a specific issue, that is, the policing and criminal justice response to issues where antisocial behaviour and crime can emerge in a community. In this case he is highlighting issues in the Cabra part of his constituency and I thank him for doing so.

I am acutely aware of the damaging and potentially devastating impact that assaults and public order incidents can have on local communities. This criminal behaviour threatens both individual and community safety and I am unequivocal in my condemnation of it. Everybody has a right to feel safe and to be safe in their homes and communities. The Deputy will appreciate that the policing response to all incidents involving criminality, including the deployment of Garda resources at local level, are operational matters for An Garda Síochána in the first instance. I assure him that his comments on some of the issues he mentioned are sent to the Garda Commissioner and that he is aware of the perspective he is delivering on behalf of his constituents in Cabra.

I am advised that Garda management carefully monitors the incidence of all crime and that Garda resources are deployed in response to changing crime trends. This may include directing resources at areas that can be designated as hotspots from to time to time for public order or other criminal behaviour. I have received an update from An Garda Síochána on the incident which took place in Ashtown in Dublin in the last weekend in January. I understand a number of migrant men temporarily camping in the area were threatened by another group of men. This incident is the focus of a live and open Garda investigation and therefore I cannot comment further on it.

However, I want to assure communities that there is a range of legislation under which threats and intimidation can be prosecuted, including: the Non-Fatal Offences Against the Persons Act 1997; public order legislation; and incitement to hatred legislation. I should add the new hate crime Bill, which I hope we can receive support for across the House and which we hope to enact by the summer. This will further strengthen the existing legislation. More broadly, the Government is rolling out a number of policy and legislative initiates which will reduce the level of public order incidents in local communities, including introducing legislation to provide for body worn cameras for gardaí and community CCTV schemes. I intend to enact the Garda Síochána (Recording Devices) Bill 2022 swiftly, to allow the Garda to commence a body worn camera pilot this year.

I intend to roll out the community safety innovation fund to drive the development of community safety projects at a local level. I intend to examine the use of antisocial behaviour orders to ensure they are as effective as possible, and considering the number of strikes attached to each order. I intend to introduce legislation to criminalise the grooming of children. I published legislation on this recently and it is so important that we never give the view that crime pays or can be a glamorous life when we know the heartache and pain it can bring and how it can ravage a community. I also intend to provide the Garda with new powers to seize and stop the illegal use of scrambler bikes.

At the end of 2017, I understand that the Dublin metropolitan region west division had a total of 672 gardaí, supported by 52 Garda staff. These figures rose to 721 gardaí, supported by 71 Garda staff, at the end of 2022. In Cabra, the number of Garda members has risen from 59 gardaí at the end of 2017 to 62 gardaí at the end of last year. I can confirm to the Deputy that Garda authorities have advised me that additional gardaí have been reallocated to Cabra station, in addition to a new Garda vehicle to provide further support to the local community in Cabra. I am assured by An Garda Síochána that these allocations have provided an ability to respond to calls and provide proactive and high-visibility patrols in a more timely manner. I am also advised by the Garda that there has been an increase in proactive patrols in the Cabra area and that this has resulted in a reduction in public order issues. More gardaí have been reallocated to Cabra, there is a new Garda vehicle there and more proactive patrols are what the Garda is detailing to me.

More broadly, I want to agree with the Deputy about the need to get Garda numbers up. We have funded An Garda Síochána to recruit 1,000 new Garda members into the Garda College in Templemore this year. That will be key to ensuring that Garda numbers begin to rise towards the end of this year and that we get to 15,000 or more gardaí by the end of 2024.

See this speech in context