Michael Mullins (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister, Deputy Fitzgerald, to the House and compliment her on the progress she is making since taking office in reforming our justice system. I compliment Senator Martin Conway on bringing forward this motion, given the new scenario that arises as a result of the restructuring of local government. As we know, the number of JPCs will reduce from 114 to 31. The JPCs have been an effective forum for consultation and discussions on matters of crime and policing within each local authority area. They provide an opportunity for local communities to participate meaningfully with the Garda and elected representatives on issues of concern.

I will give some examples of the effectiveness of the JPC in my town of Ballinasloe, where the town council JPC worked quite effectively. An issue that was raised at a considerable number of meetings was anti-social behaviour arising from the consumption of alcohol in public places. A subgroup of the JPC was established to tackle ongoing issue of street drinkers and people sleeping rough in Ballinasloe and it recommended that a drop-in centre be set up to provide a point of contact for those people. Ballinasloe Town Council provided a premises and the service is now provided and staffed by Galway Simon Community. The Bridge Resource Centre was officially opened in 2012. It opens every day for four or five hours and provides toilet and shower facilities and a comfortable and safe environment for the users in which they can receive help, particularly those experiencing addiction problems and homelessness. That is a practical example of a joint policing committee, the community, the Garda and the elected representatives coming up with practical solutions.

When anti-social behaviour issues arose in a housing estate, the JPC took a proactive role with the residents associations, the Garda and council staff in having a number of meetings that addressed particular issues. As a result, significant progress was made to the point where residents had pride in their area, entered tidy towns competitions and got involved in a significant number of community activities.

I was surprised to see the Fianna Fáil motion on the day after the significant investment in policing and Garda resources announced in the budget. I very much welcome that this is the first year since 2008 that there has been a significant investment in Garda resources. There is an increase of €141 million in the overall budget, which includes an increase of 68% in capital funding. I welcome also the recruitment of 200 gardaí in the near future, and that 400 new vehicles will be purchased as a result of a €10 million investment.

This is a comprehensive package of budget increases aimed at funding reforms across the policing and justice sector. I would like to make the Minister aware that, as a result of the restructuring that took place within the Garda some time ago, we have seen a significant decrease in criminal activity in places like the town of Ballinasloe. In particular, there has been a 28% decrease in general crimes and burglaries have decreased by 9%. It is not critical that we have a large number of Garda stations but it is critical that we have resources on the ground and that gardaí are out in the community. They must be provided with the resources to do their job in an effective manner. The fact that there are much better technology and communication systems in place now and that in many towns there are effective closed circuit television systems in operation should help significantly with policing activities.

I welcome the fact that the joint policing committees are to be reformed. I have some concerns that areas that had a real concentration of such a joint policing committee such as my own town of Ballinasloe might not get the same attention when they are involved in a wider country joint policing committee. We will keep a close eye on that and I will look to serving on that joint policing committee in the coming years. I wish the Minister continued success as she sets about her task of ensuring that our country is a safer place for people to live in and to grow old.