Joe O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

The question was fairly broad in that related to Tipperary and Clare, which is a big area. I will take back the specific issues the Deputy mentioned around Nenagh, Roscrea and Newport and long-term sick leave. The issue around leaving stations vacant comes up in my area as well. Sometimes, the senior garda in the area says they are between a rock and a hard place. People want to see gardaí on the beat but they also want someone in the station. There is a balance needed.

On local community safety partnerships, I am sure the Deputy will agree community safety is about people being safe and, importantly, feeling safe in their communities. At the heart of this policy is the principle that every community has the right to be and feel safe in order to thrive and flourish. Our approach to community safety is a whole-of-government one. We want to bring the relevant social service providers including the Garda together with the community in a collaborative manner by focusing on the concerns identified by the local community. Local community safety partnerships are provided for in Part 3 of the Policing, Security and Community Safety Act 2024 signed into law by the President in February. Each newly-established local community safety partnership will be required to develop and implement its own tailored community safety plan and will take a strategic approach to its work so that issues arising can be dealt with in a co-ordinated manner and addressed collectively by relevant providers in partnership with the community. The Minister recently announced the appointment of chairpersons to the first seven local community safety partnerships being established. The Minister is hopeful many communities will start to see local community safety partnership established in their areas over the coming weeks.

See this speech in context