Gary Gannon (Dublin Central, Social Democrats)

I thank the Minister of State for his response. The north east inner city task force is referenced quite a bit in the Chamber and other Deputies ask for similar schemes to be applied in their own areas. Why would they not? A substantial amount has been allocated over a nearly seven-year period. We should remember why that task force was initiated. It was initiated to confront the crime, drug-dealing and violent feud that tore the soul out of this city, but looking at the outcomes seven years later, despite considerable funding, we have drug-dealing and associated violence that is more insidious. Liberty Park in the north inner city is effectively a no-go area, such is the level of open drug-dealing, violence, and people almost being corralled into that space. I am here consistently calling for a safer city centre. The displacement factor when the gardaí do that drives problems into the north inner city. We effectively have places at the moment where policies of containment are going on, with the idea being that if this is happening there, it is not spilling over into the more commercial part of the city centre.

The people who are most tasked with addressing that, in the absence of real Garda or State involvement, are our youth work services. The youth work services I engage with include the Diamond Project in the Belvedere Youth Club, which is working with about 15 young people who would previously have been in the throes of all the negative commentary that I often bring to the Chamber, but through restorative justice practices, it has taken those young people and worked with them intensively, and they are no longer in the criminal justice system, saving the State an absolute fortune, but more importantly, probably saving their lives. That is the type of intervention that we need. It is considered, targeted and measured. In the absence of that, we are continuing to throw money at outcomes that we have not yet seen to be successful.

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