Aodhán Ó Ríordáin (Labour) | Oireachtas source

The Minister will be aware of the situation on the north side of Dublin, which I have raised here constantly and consistently over the last year. It has spiralled out of control when murders, gun crime, pipe bombs, shootings outside shopping centres in daylight or murders outside primary schools are part of a list of incidents that have taken place in the Dublin 17, 13 and 5 in the past 12 months. I have consistently tried to be constructive and I have asked the Minister and his Cabinet colleagues to replicate what they did in the north inner city. He has consistently refused. The Mulvey report was produced in respect of the north inner city, and a sit-down initiative was taken by the Government to get every agency, political representative and stakeholder to come up with a set of proposals that would not only police away the problem but understand the reasons for the problem.

What I have been asking for, in an effort to be constructive, is for a Mulvey-style report to engage agencies such as Northside Partnership, Preparing for Life in Darndale, local schools and community groups and residents' associations to come up with the reasons such gangland crime, violence and murder are happening and come up with constructive solutions so we can police our way out of it.

Having said that, on my initiative and that of the Clongriffin community association, there has been a campaign for a new Garda station in the Dublin 13 and 17 areas. I am pleased this has been agreed to and this station will be in situin a number of years. However, the Minister must agree that it cannot be normalised for children to grow up seeing Garda tape in their area because of another shooting. It cannot be normal for a child to go to a primary school having to step around a crime scene or a murder. In my community, which I try to represent to the best of my ability, this is happening far too often. I do not accept that if it happened in any other part of the country, it would be considered acceptable, but for some reason on the north side of Dublin, it is almost coming to be accepted that this is the way it is. However, that is not the way it is. It is a proud part of the country and the city and it deserves answers. I appeal to the Minister and Government to set aside party political divisions, conclude that there is a problem here and commission a report over a period of months, bringing together every stakeholder who cares about the area in a room to come up with a set of proposals that might educate, lift and empower the community out of the situation. Policing is part of the solution, but not alone. Once again, I plead with the Minister to replicate what he did in the north east inner city on this part of the north side as then we might get solutions and a community that feels that the State is working on its behalf. Young people are making decisions. I am sure there is a young person making a decision today regarding whether he or she goes down the route of gangland crime or involve himself or herself in the mainstream economy and society. Those decisions are made every day. It is empowering for a person to get a gun in his or her hand so we must ask how we get to a point where communities find better solutions and choices for young people. We can do that together but every time I raise this, I do not get an answer. I find that desperately disappointing when the Government found the energy to do it in one part of the city. I implore the Minister to please do the same in the Dublin 17, Dublin 13 and Dublin 5 areas.