Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael)
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6. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality the trends in antisocial behaviour since the end of Covid that require changes in the policy approaches taken by her Department; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [51943/22]

Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael)
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Since Covid, a lot of people feel antisocial behaviour has rapidly deteriorated, has shifted its pattern and is perhaps even worse than it was pre Covid. What are the trends in what is being reported to the Minister? What innovative approaches is the Minister considering in this regard? She has outlined some of them already.

Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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If we look at the crime trends overall, which are based on pre-Covid numbers, most cases, including theft, burglary and assault, are actually down. Where we have seen crime increase is around sexual offences and domestic violence cases. That said, any type of antisocial behaviour or crime is something we need to be able to respond to. We are trying to look at antisocial behaviour in a number of different ways. I have mentioned the community safety partnership and how important that is in looking at things from a holistic point of view. That involves supporting the Garda in its role but also looking at the community as a whole, making sure the supports and resources are there to lift communities, particularly those that are in deprivation or where significant community issues have arisen.

We also have to make sure gardaí have the legislation and the equipment and tools to do their job. We have provided legislation giving gardaí powers to seize and stop the illegal use of scramblers, which has impacted a number of communities. We are introducing legislation around community CCTV. We have had issues with GDPR in the last number of years so that will allow a process by which communities can engage with local authorities and the Garda to put up community CCTV. We will have body-worn cameras, which is helpful for the Garda when dealing with antisocial behaviour and this type of environment, but also helps create a picture of what exactly happened when it comes to the courts.

I have already mentioned the community safety innovation fund. This is a new fund, which many of our colleagues have called for for years and reinvests the proceeds of crime directly back into communities impacted. We also have a significant youth justice strategy, which the former Minister of State, Deputy Stanton, and now Deputy James Browne, have been implementing. In the last year and a half alone, that strategy has seen €6.7 million provided, with another €2.5 million this year. This is about providing services and supports to people prior to getting into a life of crime but also supporting their families when they are in it. That is going to be an important part of dealing with some of the antisocial behaviour issues.

Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael)
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I am very heartened by the approach the Minister and the Garda have taken on O'Connell Street with the new Garda station, the extra presence and the role of wardens. New York adopted a broken windows strategy when there was a problem there that was quite deep-seated. It involved real-time information and everyone working together and being accountable on a close to daily basis. Is that a realistic approach? How accessible are those sort of data in order to have that more hands-on accountability? On the community partnerships, which are crucial to making progress on this and building the partnership and confidence of the community, how quickly can we move from the pilot schemes, which are making real progress, to that model being available countrywide?

Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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The Deputy mentioned wardens. This was a successful application through the community safety innovation fund where inner-city gardaí went to Derry and looked at how things operated there. These are wardens based on O'Connell Street and surrounding streets who will identify where issues are emerging. They will engage with groups and work with gardaí to try to prevent incidents or support them in stopping them from escalating. I hope we will be able to replicate the many projects that were successful this year as part of the community safety and innovation fund and see them put in use, not just in the areas that were successful but right across the country.

Regarding real-time information, we can look at Operation Citizen, for example. I visited Pearse Street Garda station recently before the gardaí went out on the beat. They are very much working with real-time information. They look at persons of interest, where there were issues the day before, what areas they need to be in in the city centre, who they need to engage with and where there are other people they then need to communicate with. That is a way for the gardaí who are involved in the community safety partnerships, which link in with Dublin City Council, community groups, businesses and others, to communicate and share that real-time information. That is already happening but perhaps there is a more structured way it can be done with other groups.

Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael)
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The key to using real-time information is that people are accountable. As I understand it, the key to the success of the strategy in New York was that when dereliction appeared or when things were broken, they were quickly repaired. There was a commitment by other bodies to respond, not just a policing commitment, although that is of course welcome. That has a bearing on a lot of our problems with dereliction. Where crime develops, it is because of these things not being attended to in a timely way. These places become a shelter for activities that communities do not want to see and it escalates in that way. We need to bring more people into that daily responsibility for containing these sorts of threats.

David Stanton (Cork East, Fine Gael)
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I commend the Minister and the Minister of State for working on the youth justice strategy. It is a slow burner but there are real benefits in it. Has the Minister given consideration to expanding the community alert service across the country? There was a time when there were joint policing committees, JPCs, in every municipal district. That is not the case now. They are only at county level, which brings them away from the local aspect. I asked the Minister to have another look at the earlier question about the Garda Reserve. It is very disappointing that that might not happen until this time next year. It should happen early next year, not later.

Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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I agree with Deputy Bruton. The community safety partnerships have somebody working full-time on that. It should be the case that when gardaí come across an issue, they can feed it directly back to the person in the office, who can then deal directly with the local authority which deals directly with the local businesses. It can be used in that way. That is something I will take back and engage with the partnerships on to see if that is happening. If not, it should be happening because it is a very good idea. With regard to the timeline, one of the pilots has been launched in Longford and the other two are being worked on. The intention is that by spring of 2024, we will be putting every single JPC in a position where they will transition into a community safety partnership. We need time to see how these are working currently but there will be a natural crossover in spring 2024 when the JPCs can be turned into community safety partnerships.

I am sorry; I did not hear the first part of Deputy Stanton's question.

David Stanton (Cork East, Fine Gael)
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I was asking about expanding the community alert service and changing the JPCs to municipal district level.

Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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The JPCs will be developing into community safety partnerships. I appreciate that not everybody will welcome that change. They have served a fantastic purpose to date. They have worked very well but we need to have that multi-agency approach where it is not just the local authorities. Regarding the reserve, unfortunately, the reason it will be the latter half of next year is that we are starting a new Garda recruitment campaign. The concern is that if the two were to happen at the same time, they would be pulling from the same pool. I take what the Deputy is saying about it being too far ahead.