Seán Ó Fearghaíl (Kildare South, Ceann Comhairle)
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We now return to the first item, which is to discuss the increase in antisocial behaviour, specifically in Dublin city. This has been tabled by Deputies Jim O’Callaghan and Gannon.

Jim O'Callaghan (Dublin Bay South, Fianna Fail)
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It has been great over the past month see Dublin city reopening. We see people back in their offices. We see shops and businesses reopening. At night-time, we see many people back out socialising again. Unfortunately, however, that reopening has also been accompanied by a significant increase in violent criminal activity in the inner city of Dublin. The title given to this matter is "Antisocial Behaviour" but I think it could be more appropriately referred under the title of "Violent Criminal Activity". I do not think we should understate the matter by simply referring to it as antisocial behaviour.

The type of activity I am talking about relates to young men or boys getting involved in violence against other people that they do not know. In effect, it is gratuitous violence being perpetrated by them against people who work in restaurants or doormen. It is violence being perpetrated against other young men and boys who are walking down the street. Even yesterday, I heard of an attack on a young woman not far from here. This activity seems to follow the same characteristics. These are young men attacking people who they simply do not know.

We need to try to formulate a method of approaching and resolving this very serious matter. It will become recognised as being just a part of life and Dublin unless we take a stance on it now. We need to send out the message – and I know the Minister of State will agree - that there should be zero tolerance for this type of gratuitous assault on individuals. It is simply not acceptable that boys or young men, who are in general the victims, are subjected to attacks on public streets by people they do not know. This is happening on Dame Lane, Merrion Row and St. Stephen's Green. It is happening all over the city. Deputy Gannon is the other Member who raised this matter. I am sure this is also happening in his constituency.

I ask the Minister of State that we ensure that we have greater visibility of policing, as was mentioned in the context of the previous matter, and emphasise that this type of behaviour is socially unacceptable.

Gary Gannon (Dublin Central, Social Democrats)
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I fundamentally believe that when we see crime, we should understand the context in which it occurs and the conditions which gave rise to it. However, I also believe that when people tell me they feel unsafe, there is an onus on us to create the conditions in which they start to feel safe again. In the city of Dublin at the moment, people genuinely feel unsafe. At the very heart of that are people who do not look like me. The people who feel unsafe are migrants, women and those who are of a different sexual persuasion to me.

We have seen images of attacks and violence on our streets captured on social media. When we see footage on social media of Deliveroo drivers being attacked, I am conscious that this is only a drop in the ocean when one considers what we do not see. It pains me to say that in the city of Dublin at the moment, people simply do not feel safe. There is an onus upon us in this Chamber to confront the issues that give rise to these attacks. I took the opportunity today to visit Pearse Street Garda station to meet Superintendent Dermot McKenna, who is a really good guy. One of the issues I relayed to him is that we simply need to see more gardaí on our streets. We need to see more gardaí around the city of Dublin, wearing the uniform and creating the conditions in which people can be made to feel safe, such as by intervening at the earliest opportunity.

I am conscious that the Houses are located in an area that is close to where people were attacked and where they feel unsafe. At the gates of Leinster House at the moment are gardaí who have been deployed from Pearse Street Garda station to stand outside and do the important work they do. However, policing in a city centre context is different. We need to provide as many personnel resources as possible in order that gardaí can police the protests that happen in every democratic society, guard Dáil Éireann and make people feel safe when they come into the city. There is an onus on us to do that.

James Browne (Wexford, Fianna Fail)
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I thank Deputies O'Callaghan and Gannon for raising what is clearly a very important matter. The Government, the Minister, Deputy Humphreys, and I are determined to tackle antisocial and violent behaviour. We are conscious of the effect it can have on people's quality of life and safety. We are, of course, aware of the effect it can have on residents and businesses of Dublin city, and on many of us who want to visit our capital city and enjoy what it has to offer.

The Minister, Deputy Humphreys, and I are also aware of the importance of high-visibility policing and know that people feel safe when they see the presence of An Garda Síochána in Dublin. The Minister met with senior members of An Garda Síochána in Dublin city, as recently as last week, to discuss the issues raised by the Deputies. She also met with representatives of the businesses in Dublin city centre, including local representatives, to hear their concerns. The Minister and I will be in regular contact with An Garda Síochána and others as we progress through the autumn and winter on the actions being taken to ensure people feel safe in Dublin and other towns and cities throughout Ireland.

It is clear that incidents of assault or intimidation are completely unacceptable. People must feel safe in their communities. Preventing children and young people getting involved and diverting them from criminality after having become involved in it, is a key priority for me and both the programme for Government and the Justice Plan 2021, which contain a number of commitments in regards to this and the broader issue of tackling antisocial behaviour more generally and violent crime. In line with a commitment in the programme for Government, last year I established an expert forum on antisocial behaviour. This forum considers the effectiveness of existing legislation and proposes a new way forward, including new powers for An Garda Síochána and additional interventions to support parenting and offenders on a social level to help divert them from criminal activity. A subgroup of the forum has already considered measures which can be taken with regard to the misuse of scramblers and quad bikes in communities, and similar subgroups can be established for other issues. For instance, this week I chaired the first meeting of another subgroup on the issue of knife crime, a matter Deputy O'Callaghan has raised on numerous occasions in this Chamber. The group will now consider evidence-based best practice in addressing this issue which will inform both potential changes to legislation, as well as community safety policies, programmes, practices and interventions.

In April, the Minister, Deputy McEntee, and I published the Youth Justice Strategy 2021-2027. It considers the full range of issues connected to children and young people at risk of coming into contact with the criminal justice system, including early intervention and preventive work, family support, diversion from crime, through to court processes and facilities, supervision of offenders, detention and reintegration and support post-release. For the Deputies information, the current Garda strength as of the end of August in the Dublin metropolitan region, north central and south central divisions, which cover Dublin city is 1,384 members of all ranks. This amounts to an increase of almost 14% since the end of 2015. The divisions are further supported by Garda staff numbering 187, which is a 75% increase since the end of 2015. A key part of what is happening at present is the hiring of more Garda staff so existing Garda members can be redeployed into Garda duties and away from administrative duties.

I am assured that An Garda Síochána will continue to implement high-visibility policing plans in Dublin city to address public disorder related issues and antisocial behaviour, with particular overt and targeted policing of public places at times when public order incidents and antisocial behaviour typically increase, such as bank holidays and weekends. These uniformed members are supported by members attached to the division on drugs unit and the district crime prevention units performing covert patrols, gathering intelligence and, where appropriate, delivering effective policing interventions. In addition, the Garda national public order unit continues to be deployed in Dublin city and surrounding areas to address complaints raised by local residents and businesses regarding instances of antisocial behaviour.

Jim O'Callaghan (Dublin Bay South, Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Minister of State for that thorough response and, like him, I am fully aware this is a problem that cannot simply be resolved through increased Garda visibility or strengthening our laws. We need to focus on the group of men and boys in our society who seem to think it is acceptable to use violence against people they do not know, be that for the purpose of trying to rob from them or for the purpose of inflicting gratuitous harm upon them. We as a society need to generate a message that this type of behaviour is socially unacceptable. Let us look at how we dealt with drink-driving. Years ago, drink-driving was not treated with the same seriousness as it is today, however, the message went out that it was socially unacceptable. We need to learn from that information campaign as well. It may be the case that we need to start publicising the individuals committing these crimes and perhaps that will have a deterrent impact on them. We need to consider having an information campaign to ensure the recognition that this type behaviour is not acceptable in our society.

Gary Gannon (Dublin Central, Social Democrats)
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There are few occasions in this Chamber when we can unify and agree on an approach, and I think this is one such occasion. In our capital city at present, there are people who do not feel safe. The UN safer cities initiative for women and young girls requires resources and involves talking to young men about men's violence against women and tackling a culture of toxic masculinity. We can start by going into schools and meeting people at the youngest age possible and speaking to them about what it means to be a young man, and providing role models and counselling services. We must also acknowledge that when people are attacked, as is happening to Deliveroo drivers, people of different ethnicity, and those of different sexual persuasions, we need to come down hard, because that is not the image of the city I love that I want projected to the world. At present, we have lost our grasp of the issue and need to recapture it strongly. In a scenario where people feel unsafe, we need to come down hard and create the conditions where women, people of different ethnicity, and people working in delivery services must feel safe as they go about their duties. We can unify in that approach across this Chamber, and the Minister of State will have my full support in doing so. This beautiful city is ours and it needs a stronger hand now.

Seán Ó Fearghaíl (Kildare South, Ceann Comhairle)
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I thank both Deputies for raising this important matter.

James Browne (Wexford, Fianna Fail)
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I again thank the Deputies raising this matter. I understand what they have said and I am in full agreement with them. There can be all sorts of underlying reasons the violence is happening and it needs to be confronted head-on. On tackling the underlying issues, perhaps something driving some of that violence is a lack of understanding or comprehension of the exact damage they are causing. That is where restorative justice can come into play by compelling young people to confront the damage they do and appreciate that it is not simply a five- or ten-minute incident but that it can have lasting effects, which very often lasts for years or the rest of people's lives. Restorative justice has a significant part to play in this, as does educating those young men on their thoughts and behaviours, and the toxic masculinity, as raised by Deputy Gannon, and the behaviour coming from that. This is evident in knife crime whereby people are beginning to carry knives out of a defensive purpose. However, if a person carries a knife, more than likely, it will be pulled out and used against the person or somebody else.

Following the setting up of the antisocial behaviour forum on knife crime, we should be able to conduct a scoping exercise within eight to ten weeks. We must then move on to the next phase by looking at what is driving some general antisocial behaviours, such as dangerous violence by young men. It is a trend we are seeing more of and it needs to be tackled. We are addressing this particular type of incident through the knife crime forum. However, we can look at the issue in a broader sense as well at the issue that seems to be developing. On the local community safety partnerships, there is one pilot established in north inner city Dublin, one in Waterford city and one in Longford. They will have a real impact and need to be rolled out. It will not be like the joint policing committees where politicians and gardaí sit at the top table. There will be gardaí and some politicians, but we also want representatives of the HSE, TUSLA, housing and other State agencies around that table so they can bring comprehensive approaches where there are localised issues of violence and antisocial behaviour.