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

I thank the Deputy for raising this matter. At the outset I offer my sincere condolences to the young man who was brutally stabbed at the weekend. I must make it clear, and An Garda Síochána has made it very clear in its actions to date, that whoever is responsible for this will be held accountable and will be brought to justice. I acknowledge also the serious incident that occurred last weekend.

It is absolutely this Government's intention and priority, and has always been the case, that people feel safe and that they are safe in their homes and on their streets. It is for that very reason as a former Minister for Justice I increased the budget for An Garda Síochána by half a billion euro. It is for that very reason my number one priority and the number one priority for this Government and the current Minister is to make sure the number of gardaí we have on our streets, in our towns and in our cities continues to increase. That number is steadily rising for our capital city. More than 50% of our new recruits have consistently gone to Dublin city centre and the surrounding areas. That is why as the Minister for Justice I introduced body cameras for the first time in our city centre to make sure gardaí are equipped to respond to the many challenges we face, not just in Dublin but across the country. That is why our current Minister is committed to making sure gardaí have other technologies and equipment available to them, such as facial recognition technology, so they can respond to incidents.

When it comes to knife crime this is an issue that I and that every person in this Government and beyond takes extremely seriously. This is why, when Minister, I increased the penalty for those who are found not just carrying a knife and in possession of a knife but also those who threaten to use a knife and of course those who use a knife, reflecting the severity of this crime. The number of confiscations by gardaí and the number of seizures have increased significantly in recent years. The police powers Bill referenced by the Deputy, which I instigated in the Department and which has been followed through, will make sure gardaí have even greater powers available to them to respond to these crimes.

Of course there are challenges in our capital city and I have never shied away from that, but I believe we all recognise that it is not just the role of our Garda to make sure people are safe. This is why two things have to progress. One is the community safety partnerships, which look at community safety from a whole-of-community perspective, and the second is making sure our gardaí are working with our local authorities, our community groups, our young people, educators, housing sector and so much beyond in order that they come together and deliver a plan for their areas. That includes Dublin city centre and our capital. That is why our task force, which was led by our current Tánaiste and former Taoiseach, set out very clearly that there were a number of things we need to do now. While we must continue to increase the number of gardaí in our city centre, which is happening, we need to look at issues like dereliction and street lighting, the concentration of services in our city centre, who is accommodated in our city centre and how that is developed. We also need to work collectively to respond to the challenges that exist, and I am absolutely committed, as is this Government, to making sure we all play our part in responding to those challenges.

I assure the Deputy that when it comes to safety, ensuring people are safe and that they feel safe in their cities, homes and on our streets is a number one priority for this Government. The Deputy will note and see in all of the actions outlined in the programme for Government, which was agreed by all parties on this side of the House, that more measures will be taken, not just to introduce tougher laws, as has been the case to date, but to ensure recruitment continues to increase, whether that be through increasing the training allowance available to our gardaí to encourage more, making sure we have greater availability for gardaí to train and not just in Templemore, making sure we look to expand our force to make sure it is as diverse as possible so it reflects the communities gardaí are supporting, or making sure we do everything possible to support the Garda in its work. I acknowledge the substantial work our gardaí do day in and day out in making sure they keep the people of this country safe.

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