Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

My top priority as Minister for Justice is to build stronger, safer communities. I want to ensure that people are and feel safe in their communities, and that they contribute to feeling safe in their communities, because it is the people who live in an area who know best what it is their community needs. I am delighted to confirm that under budget 2024, €7.9 million will be allocated towards community safety initiatives, including €3.75m for the community safety innovation fund, which is an increase on last year of almost €1 million. This funding recognises again that local communities need to be involved in designing and prioritising the appropriate types of solutions in their own areas.

I established the community safety innovation fund in April 2021 with the then Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform to allow the proceeds of crime - essentially, money which has been taken off criminals - to be put directly into the communities they are impacting. The fund reflects the successes of An Garda Síochána and the Criminal Assets Bureau, CAB, in identifying and seizing these gains of criminals. CAB is working closely with the Garda and all enforcement agencies to target these types of assets to ensure we do even more in that regard. Some 22 community projects across the country benefited from grants in the first round, ranging from €5,000 to €150,000 in last year's allocation. These include projects which are not in but are near to the Deputy's area. The fund is providing assistance of €135,000 to the Walkinstown-Greenhills resource centre, which is developing supportive interventions for young people at risk from drug use, and €136,000 for the That's a Wrap project, run by FamiliBase, which is supporting marginalised young people through an assertive outreach programme in Ballyfermot and in the wider surrounding areas.

We opened up another call for funding in March 2023. I hope to be in a position in the very near future to be able to announce that funding. It was open for eight weeks. We need to do this every year because this is a fund which will continue to expand and grow, and will very much support the community safety partnerships which will be stood up next year to replace the joint policing committees. We need to ensure that people understand the fund and are putting in projects which are new and innovative. Above all, we need to ensure we can see these projects expand. If they are working in one place and can be replicated in other areas, that is very much part of what we want to happen here. Applications for the 2023 fund are currently being considered by officials in my Department. I look forward to seeing the projects that will emerge from this new round of funding in the near future. I expect to be in a position to make an announcement on this in the coming weeks. I am pleased to say it is anticipated that another round of funding will open for applicants in 2024.

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