Gary Gannon (Dublin Central, Social Democrats)
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I have had this matter selected as a Topical Issue on four separate occasions. Each time, I called for a comprehensive, Cabinet-led approach to the issues of violence in our city centre, which too often has plagued and blighted the place that I love and that I walk through every day. We have had some satisfaction in that regard. The Taoiseach has announced that he intends to construct a task force to address issues of antisocial behaviour in Dublin. Today, I come before the Chamber seeking to understand the nature and make up of that task force. I would like to understand the manner in which it will be formatted. There was an announcement today regarding the chair and some other members. I was also conscious, as the Taoiseach announced certain constructive parts of the task force to address safety in the city of Dublin, that at that same time a scenario was taking place on the Grand Canal. Hoardings and fences were being constructed, horrendous in terms of their aesthetic and the image we would like to present as the image of the city. I understand the desire for those two things to be seen as separate, but I do not believe they are. This city will be safe when this city feels safe and is safe for everybody. I would like to understand from the Minister of State the exact make up of this task force.

Who will be on it? My understanding is that there will be representatives from Dublin City Council, An Garda Síochána and Transport for Ireland. That makes complete and utter sense. For example, will the HSE also be present? One of the issues we have seen for decades in Dublin city centre is people in chronic states of drug addiction who are very vulnerable. How does the Taoiseach intend to cater for that need? Will the task force look at detox beds to allow people to recover from substance misuse? Will the task force come back with recommendations to all of us which are basic when it comes to Dublin city centre? How many more gardaí will be on the streets? We should not have to wait 12 weeks to understand that. What is the budget? How many more gardaí will there be and will they be municipal gardaí or will gardaí taken from other parts of the country be policing the streets on overtime? If that is the case, we have seen it before and it does not work. The streets cannot be policed on overtime.

Will engagement happen, not only with the business community, which should absolutely be consulted? Remembering that the city centre is also a place where people live, how will that be factored into the Taoiseach's task force? What will be the engagement? I would like to understand how the task force will differ in its make-up from any of the other initiatives that have been announced in terms of safety in the city centre in the past five or six years.

I did a little research before I came in today. Only last August we had the safer communities initiative that was launched to great fanfare by the Minister, Deputy McEntee. Will there be an overlap? What will be the consultation with groups such as the LGBTQI community, members of which have expressed fears about the rise in hate crime? Will the Irish Refugee Council be part of the task force? In 12 weeks, what will be the difference? I would like to be constructive. I have been asking for this for a long time. I would have liked to have seen more engagement before announcements were made. There are fine representatives of the north and south inner city, representatives on councils, who were not consulted. A public relations video was put out by Fine Gael on Saturday which included the Taoiseach, an MEP candidate and local councillors. That is fine, but imagine being someone who has worked and lived in the city and has not felt consulted in the same way the Taoiseach's party did. I am looking forward to the Minister of State's response.

Ossian Smyth (Dún Laoghaire, Green Party)
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On behalf of the Minister for Justice, I thank Deputy Gannon for raising this matter today. Dublin city and its surroundings are a hive of business and tourism, particularly at this time of year. Equally, there is a strong community created by local residents. We want the city to be a safe place for people to live in, work in and visit.

The Deputy will be aware that today the Taoiseach announced the creation of a task force for Dublin city centre. The goal of the task force is to make Dublin city centre a more thriving, attractive and safer cityscape and a desirable location to live in, work in, do business and visit. The high-level task force, taking an evidence-based approach to its work, will make clear and concrete recommendations on improving the city centre's public realm safety and experience within a 12 week timeframe. This will draw on current plans and submissions and will complement work already under way in the Dublin city co-ordination office. It will also take full account of existing initiatives such as Dublin's North-East inner city initiative and the Dublin north inner city local community safety partnership. David McRedmond, the chief executive of An Post, has agreed to serve as independent chair of the task force. The overall membership will be a maximum of 12 people, to include the public service including An Garda Síochána, local authority representatives and the National Transport Authority, business and trade union representatives, community and service provider representatives and cultural and arts providers.

Community safety is not solely the responsibility of the Department of Justice or An Garda Síochána, rather it is a whole-of-government responsibility. The Government is committed to taking action to tackle crime across the country. This action includes giving An Garda Síochána the tools and technology to fight crime in a digital era by rolling out improved CCTV and body-worn cameras, doubling the maximum sentence for assault causing harm to ten years, giving local people and local representatives a real say in how to make their communities safer through new community safety partnerships, and enacting the Garda powers Bill that is currently being drafted to modernise and update the powers available to An Garda Síochána.

An Garda Síochána maintains a proactive approach to policing the city centre in order to reduce crime and keep people safe. A number of important Garda operations are in place in Dublin city centre and the wider Dublin metropolitan region. For example, Operation Citizen which commenced in October 2021 is delivering an enhanced high-visibility policing presence in the city centre on a daily basis. Members of the Garda mounted unit, the Garda dog unit, the armed support unit and the Dublin metropolitan regional roads policing unit support Operation Citizen by way of high-visibility beats and mobile patrols, especially at weekends and in support of organised events. The Garda national public order unit is also available to support regular units and has recently been issued with larger capacity incapacitant spray and smaller public order shields. In addition, Operation Limmat under the Dublin metropolitan region's crime reduction strategy provides a pro-arrest and early investigation approach to incidents of assault, together with driving high-visibility policing in public places to act as a deterrent to prevent and reduce assaults and public order offences in the region. The Garda authority has also launched Operation Saul which has the aim of providing a safe environment for commuters using public transport services in the Dublin metropolitan region.

I want to be clear that incidents of assault, intimidation or violence in our capital city are completely unacceptable and can never become the norm. The Government is committed to ensuring An Garda Síochána has the resources it needs to combat and prevent crime and to keep us safe.

Gary Gannon (Dublin Central, Social Democrats)
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No one for a second believes that incidents of crime and assault should ever become the norm. The frustration on everyone else's part is that they have become the norm. The announcement of a task force only matters if in 12 weeks' time, or preferably tomorrow, when someone is being attacked on the street, there will be a garda who will be able to intervene quickly. Those are the brass tacks of it. Regardless of the operation - the Minister of State mentioned Operation Citizen and there have been any number of operations before that - the streets cannot be policed with crisis management.

Every single week without fail a video is sent to me by one of the business operators in the city centre either of open drug dealing or the stealing of bikes and inevitably there is an absence of any Garda response. I have no criticism of the gardaí who are there, but there are never enough. That is a failure and reflection of the State. Will the task force take that into consideration? Will the set number of gardaí be increased for the city centre? If not, what is the purpose of this task force?

I welcome the number of groups that will be around the table, but it will not matter unless the HSE is there with fully resourced detoxification beds to help people out of chronic addiction. Will we have, for example, the much talked about safe injection facility? That has been held up in politics and has not opened. That would make a difference. This task force will only matter if two things happen. Chronic open drug dealing is no longer tolerated and when people experience crime a garda will be present. What I am really fearful of is what inevitably happens when we have public attention on an incident. Crime gets pushed into the residential areas of Dorset Street or wherever beyond for a period. Then a residents' group emerges and it is pushed back into the city centre. We have had that cycle for the best part of four decades now.

Dublin needs Cabinet authority. In the absence of strong local government that is empowered, we need the Cabinet to take an interest in it. I will be vociferous in holding the Government's feet to the fire in terms of an interest in Dublin. Dublin has to be more than a public relations exercise. I fear that is what this task force will turn into.

Ossian Smyth (Dún Laoghaire, Green Party)
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I presume a safe injection facility falls under the Minister for Health and I will ask him to reply to the Deputy directly on that.

Gary Gannon (Dublin Central, Social Democrats)
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It is the task force.

Ossian Smyth (Dún Laoghaire, Green Party)
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The Deputy will be aware that the new approach to community safety policing via local community safety partnerships is being piloted in three locations, including the north inner city of Dublin. This approach brings together local communities and local service providers under an independent chair to develop a community safety plan for their local area, and more important, to work in partnership with their local area. The Dublin North Inner City Partnership continues to work collaboratively with key stakeholder agencies to address matters as they arise. It has four proactive subgroups and they are focused on specific themes that have an impact on the community. The Department of Justice's community safety innovation fund reinvests funds seized as the proceeds of crime back into communities. This fund increased from €2 million in 2022 to €3 million last year. The Minister for Justice was delighted to see it increase again to €3.75 million in budget 2024. Some 22 successful projects received funding in 2022 and another 30 projects last year.

One of these successful projects is the community safety wardens scheme in Wolfe Tone Park which was provided funding of €150,000 aimed at providing support for a social space for recreation in Wolfe Tone Park and serving the surrounding areas. It also aims to provide a visible presence in the community and reassure elderly and vulnerable members of the community. The right approach to solving problems is to have a multi-agency approach, bring in communities, provide additional funding, bring high-level support from Ministers and politicians and focus attention on problems. It is more than PR. It is a definite attempt to solve the problem.