Catherine Ardagh (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I wish everyone a happy Pride Month. We need clarity on our licensing laws. It is basic legislation. Perhaps it can be done by some sort of order from the Department. If legislation is required in this case, then bring it on.It is unfair to those attending premises, as well as to restaurants and bars throughout the country, and it needs to be rectified.

I also want to speak about the epidemic of knife crime that has hit our city. An Garda Síochána is investigating three separate incidents of knife crime last weekend, but it is an ongoing issue. Following every weekend, we read of various knife crime incidents around Dublin city. The number of incidents is increasing and they are becoming more vicious. What can we do about it? We could introduce minimum mandatory sentencing. That should, possibly, be done because there is no deterrent to people carrying knives or using them, but in my view, we need to take a more holistic approach. There are 50,000 children living in the south-west inner city, but there are no sporting facilities. Work on a full-size GAA pitch at the St. Teresa's Gardens site is under way, but one pitch for 50,000 children and ten primary schools is not sufficient. We need to nurture children when they are young and easily influenced and attempt to steer them away from a life of crime.

There are other related issues. Prior to the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic, the issue of decentralising juvenile liaison officers was under consideration by the policing forum. I hope this does not proceed. It is important that juvenile liaison officers are attached to localities and not decentralised. Decentralisation would take away from the great work that is being done throughout the city by these garda. I commend the St. John Bosco Youth Centre and Bru Youth Service in Crumlin for continuing their youth diversion programmes during Covid. They went to huge lengths to keep those programmes going and they must be commended on that.

There are four policing forums in Dublin South-Central but there is still no policing forum co-ordinator. It is a huge issue. A co-ordinator is required to focus the community and statutory bodies on early intervention and prevention of crime. It is remiss that a co-ordinator has been not yet appointed. We need to take a holistic approach to knife crime and we need to tackle it at the core, which means minding children and looking after them when they are young and easily influenced.