Naoise Ó Muirí (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael)
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Darndale Park playground was vandalised in May and closed, needing repair, by Dublin City Council. Eco toilets were installed recently in St. Anne's Park and a week, later, on 26 October, they were set on fire. Kilmore playground was lobbied and campaigned for by the local community for years. The city council went through a big process to put the facility in, and rightly so. Last Sunday, there was an arson attack on the playground. I went there the day after the attack. The Minister of State can see how it looks now from the picture I have in my hand. The city council had to close it because it is not safe for use. That is a playground gone.

The next picture shows Howth community garden, off Tuckett's Lane at the back of Scoil Mhuire. Three days ago, an eating area was torched and vandalised and is now unusable for the community. A playground at Diamond Park in the north inner city, just off Gardiner Street, was vandalised in July and again on Hallowe'en night. There was a big fire in Sean Moore Park, near Poolbeg, in September. Bridgefoot Street Park in The Liberties was vandalised in October.

There is too much of this going on. Communities cannot wear this as a strategy. It has been raised at local level and I am raising it here because I want to know whether there is a pattern to it. There have been an awful lot of incidents across the city. The Lord Mayor, Ray McAdam, has raised this with An Garda Síochána. I raise the issue here today because I want to hear that the courts and the Department of justice are taking it seriously and dealing with it. There is a lot of this happening. If there is a pattern here, if this activity is organised, we need to get to the bottom of it, take it on and deal with it.

All communities should be able to have nice things. These communities have lobbied for these nice things. The Minister of State has a very good sense of the importance to communities, including in his own area, of playgrounds and green facilities. I raise this issue with him with a view to the Department of justice taking it seriously and working with the relevant authorities to get to the bottom of it.

Christopher O'Sullivan (Cork South-West, Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Deputy for raising this issue. The Minister, Deputy Jim O'Callaghan, desperately wanted to be here to take it because he feels so strongly about it. Unfortunately, at the last minute, he had to step away and I stepped into his place. I wanted to relay that message.

My heart goes out to the communities the Deputy mentioned. I have sat in this Chamber and in council chambers many times listening to people crying out for amenities such as public toilets and playgrounds. The amount of community effort that goes into delivering a playground in a community is extraordinary. Sometimes, fundraising is done within the community and, other times, community groups come together, working with the local authority and with LEADER funding, to deliver playgrounds. To see the pointless destruction of these incredible community facilities is really disappointing. Fair play to the Deputy for raising it. I hope my reply will be useful in highlighting possible solutions.

Damage to community facilities is not only unacceptable; it is reprehensible. Every playground, park and public space represents considerable investment not only in financial terms but also in terms of time and effort from the community, the local authorities and their staff and the contractors who build these wonderful facilities. Setting playgrounds or parks alight is not harmless fun. It is a sign of disrespect to one's neighbours and one's community. It prevents the wider community, including children, from using amenities that are often the heart of the local area.

At the end of September 2025, the Garda workforce was at its highest in history, standing at over 18,000 people. This comprises 14,325 members, 3,483 staff and 293 reserves. As of the same date, 3,836 Garda members were assigned to the Dublin metropolitan region, DMR, with 471 Garda staff also working across the region. Of these, 766 Garda members and 70 Garda staff are assigned to DMR north.

The greatest demand from the public to the Minister for justice is for more gardaí on our streets and in our villages and towns. People want to see more gardaí throughout their communities, as does the Minister and every Member of this House. Nearly 200 new gardaí attested last Friday. On Monday, more than 220 Garda recruits entered Templemore to commence their training. This is the largest intake of Garda trainees in over ten years. Gardaí work tirelessly to keep our city safe for residents and visitors alike. When incidents occur, they respond quickly, effectively and with a graduated response.

The Minister is conscious of the damaging impact on quality of life that crime can have in our communities. The Government is committed to tackling crime and building safer streets and stronger communities through a number of ongoing measures, including: the introduction of local community safety partnerships around the country to develop tailored community safety plans for every area; continued expansion of youth justice and youth diversion measures; new laws to criminalise the grooming of children into a life of crime; and the deployment of body-worn cameras by gardaí in Dublin city centre, Waterford and Limerick in 2024, with nationwide roll-out to follow. Other actions are contained in the programme for Government to reduce instances of antisocial behaviour and help people to be safe and feel safe in their local communities. These include a commitment to enact legislation to combat antisocial behaviour through enhanced use of antisocial behaviour warnings and antisocial behaviour orders. Work to progress these commitments has commenced.

That covers the general approach in terms of tackling antisocial behaviour. However, there seems to be a specific issue in the Dublin area. There is almost a type of copycat activity happening where it is becoming the done thing to target community facilities. The Deputy gave a large number of examples. It is saddening to see. I am sure the Minister will work with the Dublin local authorities and An Garda Síochána to ensure the issue is tackled in some way. I commend the fire crews who had to respond to these incidents very quickly.

Naoise Ó Muirí (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Minister of State for his response. I call for anybody who has any information on any of these incidents, particularly in my area of Dublin Bay North, to report them to Coolock Garda station. We must get to the bottom of this.

By way of more background on Darndale Park, I received an email from a teacher in Our Lady Immaculate school in Darndale. She states: "The playground located behind the school has been closed on over 600 children between the two schools and the Jigsaw crèche. [They] have missed out on the chance to play there since May." They continue to miss out on that chance. Darndale is a long-standing area and one with deprivation. It is beyond belief that people would do that to their own communities.

The eco toilets in St. Anne's Park were put in mainly for the use of underage girls' teams. There are no changing facilities on that edge of the park. It meant teams coming from afar to play on the pitches in St. Anne's Park would have toilets to use. Those toilets were wrecked.

In the case of Kilmore, all my council colleagues, and I was on the council until last year, campaigned for that playground for a long time. They badgered the city council into delivering a playground in Kilmore Park. Within weeks of it opening, the city council had to lock it because it had been damaged.

It is kind of depressing. I am a fairly reasonable and rational person but this stuff makes me angry. Communities deserve to have decent facilities. People deserve to be able to play and enjoy the outdoors in facilities like these. They are used by many different people and groups in so many different ways. The one thing they all share is that they use them for enjoyment. Now they have been wrecked. I appreciate the Minister of State's comments on the number of incidents. It looks like something else is going on here. I reinforce that point and ask again that, as he suggested, the Minister take it up in the Department to try to get to the bottom of it.

Christopher O'Sullivan (Cork South-West, Fianna Fail)
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The local community safety partnerships build on and replace the existing joint policing committees, bringing together gardaí, local representatives, community organisations and representatives of local authorities and other State bodies to draft a community safety plan tailored to community needs. No one knows better what is needed by a community than those who live in it. The Minister signed the regulations to establish the safety partnerships and they came into operation on Monday, 30 June. This paves the way for a total of 36 partnerships to be established across the country, with partnerships in each local authority administrative area. There will be one in each of the Dublin City Council administrative areas, with five in total.

I am not sure on the ground if that has come to realisation yet. That could be an opportunity to try to crack down on this. The Deputy eloquently highlighted the importance of these amenities. I imagine the Dublin city councillors, parents and community activists involved in getting toilet facilities or playgrounds up and running must be disheartened and gutted to see this happen. It is easier said than done to stop it. I question the mindset of anybody who goes out with the intention of targeting an amenity like this. In the towns in my constituency, if a playground was closed for whatever reason, the community would feel such a loss especially families. We are getting bigger towns and bigger urban areas. They need these types of amenities. I will reflect and report back the Deputy's comments to the Minister for justice.