Jim O'Callaghan (Dublin Bay South, Fianna Fail)

I thank the Deputy. I certainly think this is the type of initiative local community safety partnerships should be considering. As she will be aware, they are being rolled out. I approved the membership of a whole series of them over a week ago and I want to see those local community safety partnerships up and running in communities as quickly as possible. The type of technology we are talking about with this initiative is very simple. It is just providing information to An Garda Síochána in respect of incidents around the country. I am very pleased the scheme is operating in each of the four Garda regions. I understand the feasibility of scaling the initiative to other areas is being explored by the Garda. It will be subject to an evaluation of the existing schemes with a view to informing future policy and a possible expanded roll-out. However, we can all agree the more information provided to An Garda Síochána and indeed the general public in respect of threatening or antisocial behaviour, the easier it will be to combat that because Garda resources can then be focused on it.

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