Ivana Bacik (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I echo the words of many colleagues last Thursday in welcoming the reforms to the junior certificate programme announced by the Minister for Education and Skills, Deputy Ruairí Quinn. They are genuinely groundbreaking and will improve the educational experience of thousands of pupils. We will have a debate in the House with the Minister in the coming weeks during which I am sure we will be able to discuss in more detail with him the nature of these reforms.

On a day when rural Ireland is coming to Dublin, I wish to mention a very urban issue. I ask the Leader for a debate on how to improve urban centres. Last week, a good deal of time was spent on the Order of Business speaking about crime on the streets. People expressed real concern about the level of street crime. In this context, I came across an initiative in the UK, begun by the Association of Town Centre Management, called the purple flag initiative. Its website is purpleflag.org.uk. It is a great idea whereby town centres, be they areas or districts in cities or smaller towns, apply for purple flag status - in the same way as we have blue flag beaches - to announce the area is safe for people at night and a pleasant place to be with good levels of cleanliness and security. Belfast, Derry and Enniskillen on this island are all included, as are places such as Leicester Square in London where extensive efforts to reduce crime have been made by local businesses in co-operation with each other. They also co-operate with the police to ensure licence enforcement. The levels of cleanliness have increased and anyone who knows Leicester Square will know serious problems had arisen with litter. All of this has been done under the purple flag initiative. Similarly, Belfast's Cathedral Quarter has a purple flag because of a very clear but unobtrusive police presence, a good balance of outlets and a very pleasant environment, as anyone who has been there recently will agree. It is an initiative we could very well do with in Ireland. We could look at how we could adopt it in this country through the chambers of commerce and Dublin City Business Association.

In the week where we heard about private businesses being asked to provide the public with access to their toilets, we can see there is a lack of public facilities and amenities for visitors to and residents of this city who are out at night. That is true across other urban centres in Ireland. Something like a purple flag initiative gives an incentive to businesses working with the local councils and public services to ensure their area and amenities are better for tourists and residents alike. We could all imagine the great benefit we would see from that. I ask the Leader for a debate on initiatives like the purple flag and how we could adapt them in this country.