Colm Brophy (Dublin South West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I am well aware of the incredible work the Deputy does with local communities on this issue and how she has championed it. On behalf of the Minister, Deputy O’Callaghan, I thank the Deputy for raising this matter today. The Government is committed to building stronger, safer communities and community safety as a whole-of-government responsibility. Community safety is about much more than policing. It is about how we look after and support each other and the most vulnerable in our society. It is about the provision of services that focus on prevention and early interventions, such as addiction support and early childhood interventions. It is about supporting businesses and how our communities in which we live look and feel. It is also about State services working with each other and the community to take a shared approach in solving issues relating to community safety.

High-visibility policing is, of course, an important factor in communities feeling safe but our gardaí are not solely responsible for safety in our communities. This is what the new whole-of-government community safety structure is central to and what LCSPs will aim to address. It will bring the relevant service providers and An Garda Síochána together to work with each community in a collaborative manner to focus on tackling the concerns identified and prioritised by the local community itself. That is really important, as someone who has come through this from a council background right the way through to being a TD.

The Policing, Security and Community Safety Bill 2024, which Minister O’Callaghan enacted yesterday, provides for the establishment of these local community safety partnerships, which will operate at each local authority level. The partnerships will replace and build upon the good work of the joint policing committees, supplementing this by bringing together a broader range of relevant stakeholders including local councillors, An Garda Síochána, local residents, community representatives, business and education representatives and a range of statutory agencies, including the HSE, Tusla and each local authority. As someone who was on a joint policing committee for many years, I acknowledge and thank all the people who worked on those committees over the years. Those people did an incredible job.

Three innovative pilot LCSPs were set up in Waterford, Longford and Dublin’s north-inner city in 2021. The pilot process was accompanied by an independent evaluation to help inform best practice for the national roll-out. We see how the model can succeed in different contexts and settings. 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 their work so that issues arising can be dealt with in a co-ordinated manner, addressed collectively by relevant service providers in partnership with the community.

A total of 36 partnerships will be established, based in each local authority administrative area. Each LCSP will be supported by a full-time co-ordinator and a full-time administrator, resourced by the Department of Justice. Section 114 of the Policing, Security and Community Safety Act 2024 provides for making of regulations to establish the LCSPs. My Department is working with the Office of Parliamentary Legal Advisers, OPLA, to facilitate drafts of these regulations, which it is proposed will commence shortly.

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