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

I thank the Minister of State for his response, which from the perspective of the Minister, Deputy McEntee, is quite comprehensive. I fully appreciate there are a number of different plans in place, including Operation Citizen.

The Minister of State mentioned that the Garda Commissioner states the distribution of gardaí is often considered and monitored. I vehemently argue that policing in an urban environment, in particular a city centre environment, is different from policing anywhere else in the country. There are very different needs and it requires very different skill sets. We need a consistent Garda presence in the city centre that is not going to be reallocated to other areas based on, for example, protests happening. Of course we need gardaí to manage them, but we need a consistent Garda presence in the city centre that is always there, without the number going up and down, because policing there is different.

I have seen that the Garda station on O'Connell Street is open but I do not think there has been a significant increase in gardaí on the street. There is a physical building there but locals have not seen a difference in that regard.

I want to ask the Minister of State about local authorities, in particular as they come under his remit. At times, Dublin is a dirty city. I do not know what the situation is in regard to street cleaning at the moment, but if you walk around the city centre on any given weekday, it does not look clean. Dereliction is a massive problem. The environment around Dublin presents itself as being hostile. In addition to dereliction, there is an absence of street lighting and vacancy. I do not want to present this picture of the city because I love this city and there is nowhere else in the world I would rather be, but we cannot step away from the fact we have problems. I believe a multifaceted approach is needed. Has the Minister of State called in the management of Dublin City Council and asked what is happening in Dublin? We all realise the city has gone into a decline. What has his engagement been with the local authority?

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