Mark Ward (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Gabhaim buíochas leis an Aire Stáit. I want to touch on the community safety fund again. This is money from organised crime that was seized by CAB and is meant to be invested in the communities most impacted by crime. These communities are in need of resources to strengthen their resilience against criminal activity. It is no coincidence that the majority of money seized by CAB originates in areas of high disadvantage. It is crucial that these areas get the support they need.

I have met several front-line services in my role as party spokesperson on youth justice and community safety and they have concerns about the criteria. Yesterday, for example, Deputy Carthy and I met the Inner City Organisations Network, ICON. It received community safety funding to conduct research into how organised criminals were trafficking young people into criminality. It applied for the second part of this funding to expand the research but was denied. Will there be a review into the community safety fund to ensure it is fit for purpose and agile enough to meet the challenges of emerging trends in the youth just area?

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