Gary Gannon (Dublin Central, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

And funding.

Let me refer to why an oversight mechanism is necessary. Yesterday a group of women were taken away from a protest on genocide, brought to a police station and strip-searched and cavity-searched. What sort of funding can be given to ensure accountability for these women? There is no means by which what happened is justifiable or acceptable. This is related to the content of the report on profiling by the Irish Network Against Racism, commissioned by the Policing Authority and released just two days ago. It is particularly relevant when we talk about the fact that a survivor of genocide who wished to protest against it was taken to a police station and received treatment that none of us could stand over. I appreciate that the Act is really important but there are real-world examples as to why we are failing in this regard and need to do better. There are many elements to the Act that we welcome but I do not believe the legislation meets the moment we have been asking for. This has been called a bold new era but it involves a reshuffle. There are new boards and acronyms but very little substantial change. It certainly will not see change in the communities I represent.

Community safety, when well resourced, entails having effective and expedient accountability for those who, on having reported hate crimes after having walked past gangs, feel they have not been treated appropriately by the apparatus of the State that is in place to protect and serve them. I refer in particular to when the structures of the State let themselves down.

The Act could have been a genuine opportunity for reform. It could have broken from the past and built something new and different. Instead, it dresses up a system that is not working in the language of reform. The Act and the resourcing required have done very little to address the absence of morale among the on-the-ground gardaí we are asking to serve us. It does nothing to address the retention crisis through allocating resources. Experienced gardaí are walking away and young gardaí are leaving the system because they cannot afford to live in the cities they are being asked to police. The legislation does nothing to address the fact that there is a significant absence of real, immediate and effective oversight. The new Garda ombudsman, Fiosrú, lacks full independence. There is no full access to information and no power to initiate investigations freely. A watchdog that needs permission is not a real oversight body, and it will not be.

There is a failure to track bias and injustice. If this had gone to the committee, I am sure we would have been welcoming groups such as the Irish Network Against Racism, which released a report yesterday on the profiling of communities of colour and Brazilians, who feel they are being policed differently from other groups. We need to have a debate on this.

Local community safety partnerships could have been powerful but they are toothless. When initiated by the Minister’s predecessor, Deputy McEntee, I brought in the report from the North Inner City Local Community Safety Partnership. I believe it has 54 pages of recommendations but there was absolutely no budget allocated for each. Can the Minister imagine what is effectively another well-intentioned talking shop where people raise issues concerning various authorities around the table? An example of such an issue is the Royal Canal walkway, which has become a no-go area in the north side of the city. Every single month, somebody will raise an issue and the Garda will talk about an absence of the resources needed to police the areas in question effectively.

There is a framing of progress here but it is still the same old top-down approach, rebranded with a press release and not really designed for any substantial change. Real safety in our communities is about building relationships, not just structures. Gardaí who in the past knew your name will now just know you through a number. We need systems that protect people, not just manage fallout. Much of what we are talking about in respect of what happened yesterday is about how we protect people, give them the right to protest and not react disproportionately. Real safety means gardaí rooted in communities, not gardaí borrowed from other counties, taking away those counties’ Garda resources. It also means victims being heard and supported, not handed a number and then sent away. It means being transparent with data on what is happening, and where and why, so we can intervene. It means structures that empower communities, not simply sideline them.

Safety is not about fewer crimes; it is about fairness, trust and dignity. We failed in this regard yesterday. Safety is also about knowing who will show up, who will believe you and who will fight for you. I refer to what community safety should mean. The legislation, although well intentioned and certainly having some pluses, does not deliver in this regard. I hope the resources allocated will enable it. Again, however, somebody needs to get on top of what happened yesterday. It was a gross failure of the State.

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