Ossian Smyth (Dún Laoghaire, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

The Deputy will be aware that the new approach to community safety policing via local community safety partnerships is being piloted in three locations, including the north inner city of Dublin. This approach brings together local communities and local service providers under an independent chair to develop a community safety plan for their local area, and more important, to work in partnership with their local area. The Dublin North Inner City Partnership continues to work collaboratively with key stakeholder agencies to address matters as they arise. It has four proactive subgroups and they are focused on specific themes that have an impact on the community. The Department of Justice's community safety innovation fund reinvests funds seized as the proceeds of crime back into communities. This fund increased from €2 million in 2022 to €3 million last year. The Minister for Justice was delighted to see it increase again to €3.75 million in budget 2024. Some 22 successful projects received funding in 2022 and another 30 projects last year.

One of these successful projects is the community safety wardens scheme in Wolfe Tone Park which was provided funding of €150,000 aimed at providing support for a social space for recreation in Wolfe Tone Park and serving the surrounding areas. It also aims to provide a visible presence in the community and reassure elderly and vulnerable members of the community. The right approach to solving problems is to have a multi-agency approach, bring in communities, provide additional funding, bring high-level support from Ministers and politicians and focus attention on problems. It is more than PR. It is a definite attempt to solve the problem.

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