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

First, I assure the Deputy, as he has probably heard, that tackling serious and organised crime is a priority for me and An Garda Síochána. I am committed to ensuring that communities right across the country have the resources and supports that they need, and most importantly people are safe and feel safe.

While it is welcome that serious attacks involving firearms have fallen substantially over the last number of years, as have serious types of incidents, I am acutely aware of certain incidents that have happened in recent times and the devastating impact of such incidents on the entire community. The implications they can have are far-reaching and I am determined to address these matters. A number of measures have been taken in particular to tackle organised crime. These include increasing the maximum sentence for conspiracy to murder from ten years to life in prison. This relates to those who do not pull the trigger but who make the decision at the very top and who so often evade any form of justice. They are being taken into that space.

There are new laws to criminalise the grooming of children. As I have just mentioned, this is so we can identify and acknowledge the harm that is caused to young people when they are brought into a life of crime. We are rolling out support programmes to break the link between gangs and the children they try to recruit, and the Greentown project is an example. We are introducing facial recognition technology to help investigate and prosecute cases of serious crime. Again, we are strengthening CAB’s ability to target the proceeds of crime, to speed up the process and to stop criminals from delaying the process.

I fully recognise the need to support and strengthen our communities to address the root cause of violence and I think that is where Deputy Paul Donnelly is coming from with the type of report he is proposing. We are now trying to move away from having individual reports for areas, because the community partnerships will now take over that role. So much of the work that was done by the Drogheda Implementation Board, Cherry Orchard report, and the Mulvey report looks at what the community needs as a whole, and not just at the work of An Garda Síochána. The plans that have been developed from those various different reviews or groups are very much in line with what the partnerships are and what they will be. The community's safety plan is designed to address public safety issues, bringing together the relevant agencies and An Garda Síochána working with local authorities, local representatives, young people, communities and all the partnerships to make sure that a specific time can be put in place.

Specifically in the Deputy’s own area of Dublin 15, community partnerships will be rolled out. They will be in line with and parallel to the three youth diversion projects that are already working across this area. There is approximately €900,000 in funding from my Department under the youth justice strategy. It is really important that they are coherent and that they work in collaboration with each other to try to address the root cause of some of the challenges that are being faced.

See this speech in context