Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I have to apologise. I have to be in Brussels this evening so the Minister of State, Deputy James Browne, will take over for the latter part of the debate. I wanted to hear as many colleagues as possible and hopefully I will be able to stay for a bit longer. I thank Members for the opportunity to outline how I believe we are making a real difference when it comes to building stronger and safer communities.

From the outset as Minister for Justice, I have been determined to keep people safe, and to ensure that people are safe and that they feel safe. That has always been at the centre of my work, and there are and always will be challenges with that. Our communities want more gardaí and I want to say clearly that I want more gardaí. There is more we can do to ensure people are safe and that they feel safe, whether it is in our towns and cities or in our rural areas, and I am committed to making sure that is the case. Just as I will not stand here and pretend that there is not more we can do, I will not stand here either and say that nothing has been done.

Investment in An Garda Síochána and across the justice sector is increasing and is at record levels. Budget 2023 brought An Garda Síochána's total allocation to €2.14 billion, which is a 20% increase in just the past three years. This is supporting the Garda in the excellent work it does in many areas, such as tackling gangland crime. We only have to turn on the news from the past 24 hours to hear of the successes of the Garda, which we are all thankful for. I sincerely thank and acknowledge all of those involved in yesterday's huge operation, which is probably the most significant drugs haul and seizure ever in the country. I acknowledge the hard work and dedication of An Garda Síochána, the Defence Forces and many others involved in that operation. I want to acknowledge the number of international coalitions that have been built to tackle gangland crime, which operates with little respect for borders, as it does for people.Gangland murders have fallen dramatically but I acknowledge that unfortunately the figures this week indicate there are still homicides where numbers have increased. Killings are now largely driven by domestic abuse. We are making progress in this area through our zero tolerance plan. We have tougher laws and stronger sentences. We are developing new refuge spaces. We are building the long-term structures to tackle domestic, sexual and gender-based violence, to challenge and change the attitudes which underpin it, to help victims. We have just advertised for the position of CEO for the new domestic violence agency that will put in place the structures so that no matter who is Minister or what the focus of the day is, this will remain on the agenda and remain a priority. This is the long-term reform that is needed to tackle these deep-rooted problems. That is what we are all saying here today. It is not a short-term fix, it is about how we put in place the long-term structures to deal with things in the longer term.

The Government's policy on community safety is simple. To speak to some of the points that have just been made, it is built on two pillars. First, nobody knows better than a local community what needs to be done to increase safety in their area and to tackle antisocial behaviour or issues like the scenes we have seen in Navan, which are absolutely appalling and which nobody could but condemn. Second, the most effective policing is at a local level. We all want to know our local garda, to be able to engage or pick up the phone, and for gardaí in turn to know exactly who is in their community. That is why we are introducing the community safety partnerships. This is about people being safe and feeling safe, but having ownership of that, with responsibility not just lying with the Department of Justice or An Garda Síochána. It requires the State agencies and organisations, for example Tusla, local businesses, education providers, enterprise workers and youth services, all working together with the local community and of course our local representatives, bringing everyone around the table to find solutions. It is, again, about drawing up our own community safety plans in our own area. Whether it is Navan, Cavan or other areas in Dublin, all members will have a part to play in this. As I said, nobody knows their own area better than those who live in it.

From next year, every area of the country will have a community safety partnership which will draw up its own safety plan. Ahead of the national roll-out I established three pilots in the inner city in Dublin, Longford and Waterford. We had an urban area and a mix of urban and rural to make sure we had a proper spread. When I commenced the partnership pilot scheme the goal was very simple, that we would empower communities and give them ownership of their own safety while obviously working very closely with the arms of the State. The north inner city plan which was published only this month is a perfect example of this approach. There are practical and very pragmatic actions on how to improve community safety. These include recommendations around Garda presence and how the Garda would work and engage with the community. There is a focus on enhanced youth services, business taking initiatives such as the new community safety wardens, and the local authority playing its part too. It will not be perfect. It will not be perfect in every county. However, it is another example of a long-term reform to tackle deep-rooted problems.

Along with the Minister of State, Deputy James Browne, I am committed to further extending the youth diversion programmes. They were mentioned by colleagues. They do invaluable, effective work right across the country including with those who are at risk of getting involved in crime and those who are involved in crime already and are very clearly down a particular path. We have funding of almost €30 million supporting these projects. That is an increase of about 67% in the past three years alone. By next year for the first time the youth diversion programmes will cover the entire country. We want to build on those programmes and in particular to get to the hard-to-reach young people who do not necessarily fall into that net. This session, I will be progressing the Policing, Security and Community Safety Bill, the legislation which will underpin the partnerships I have just mentioned nationally. I look forward to discussing the Bill with Senators as it moves through the Houses this term.

A visible Garda presence is of course central to all of this and to community policing. Throughout my time as Minister for Justice and in many of the debates in these Houses, I am always struck although not surprised by the high regard in which the Garda is held by each and every one of us. That was most evident during the centenary celebrations last year. As I said at the outset, people want more gardaí, not less of them. Certainly I am part of that. Unfortunately we had to close the Garda College during the pandemic. That is something people forget or choose to ignore, but it is a fact that when the college is not open we cannot have recruits coming out of it. It was closed before but for very different reasons which we will not dwell on. My party was proud to reopen it and to renew the tradition of training gardaí in Templemore. Now we are seeing that reinvigorated process. Some 500 people completed or began their training last year after the Covid-enforced pause in numbers in Templemore. Those numbers continue now to increase. We have attestations every three months with 135 in February and 154 in May. We had another class of 174, the largest class since Covid, entering the college at the end of July. We are building momentum around recruitment. Some 100 new gardaí have attested so far this year. Another 470 will be in active training and we have two more classes in October and December. Those numbers are continuously increasing. We also have plans in place for a new recruitment campaign for the Garda Reserve which is extremely important to support the Garda and help create and increase visibility in our communities. We are also examining all options to see how we can help with recruitment and retention, including the entry age, retirement age and other measures. We are doing exit interviews as well to look at the reasons people are leaving and find out what more we can do. Yes, we have full employment and a certain number of gardaí are leaving because they want to and because they have other opportunities. There are others who are not happy and we have to acknowledge that and see what more I can do in my role and working closely with the Garda Commissioner and An Garda Síochána.

I know An Garda Síochána is going through a period of significant reform at the moment. I would be the first here to acknowledge that any type of change or reform is not easy. I want to sincerely thank members of An Garda Síochána for implementing this reform but also for giving me their feedback. I get this when I go around the stations, my Department does as well. The senior leadership feed back on how these reforms are working or, in some instances, how they feel they are not working, how they can be changed, amended. There have been a series of changes including around the operating model, the number of counties and the structure there, and around the online systems they have to use. There is a new change coming in October, which I think is the third or fourth. There is continuous engagement to understand what is working and what is not, while at the same time making sure the reform and the change happen. They were brought in for a reason and it is important that we do not lose sight of that.

One of the main benefits of the new operating model is the new community policing structures, having community policing teams across the country. As we increase recruitment next year and as the operating model is rolled out we will see the reforms to strengthen community policing really take effect. Community policing areas will be created nationwide by An Garda Síochána with a dedicated community garda given responsibility for each new community policing area. Communities will be able to identify and contact their community garda via the Garda Síochána website and address issues of local concern such as antisocial behaviour, crime prevention, community safety or whatever reason a person might have to contact a member of An Garda Síochána. In return, each garda will have a responsibility to be highly visible, active, engaged and accessible to their local area and to engage with local people, groups and businesses. The dedicated local community garda will be at the front line. This is what we all want. This is small area policing. This is what we are talking about. This is policy. This is what is being rolled out. It is our established policy to build on small area policing, which was successful in the north inner city within our community policing teams. It is in action in our community safety partnership for the north inner city. I trust Senators from the area would acknowledge and welcome the advance work done by the partnership to make this a reality across the country from next year.

This has not been rolled out fully, which we have to acknowledge while people are saying there are problems on the ground. Reform and change take time, particularly when we have a global pandemic taking place in the middle of it. It is worth recalling how much reform is under way. Senator McDowell alluded to the reasons this reform is in place, which all of us remember, and why it is needed. The Commission on the Future of Policing was established in May 2017 to undertake a comprehensive examination of all aspects of policing. It published its report and outlined a clear vision and road map. That is exactly what we are implementing now. It is not easy. It is taking time. However, I genuinely believe that when this is rolled out, when the number of gardaí increases, which is key to this working, it will be successful.

In respect of gardaí themselves, I take the welfare of An Garda Síochána extremely seriously. I meet with the staff associations, discuss issues of concern with them, and discuss what more can be done. I also make it my business to meet with front-line gardaí when I go to stations so I can take the time to engage, listen, ask questions and hear what they have to say. I really value the things they say to me in an honest and straightforward way. It helps me in my work. I know how tough the job of a garda is. I do not nor should any of us take for granted their efforts, nor underestimate the risks they are exposed to every day on our behalf.That is why I enacted legislation before the summer to increase the maximum sentence for assaulting a member of An Garda Síochána and other emergency workers from seven to 12 years. I am aware that Members of this House and indeed the other House have advocated for that. That is why one of my main priorities this term again is to pass the Garda Síochána (Recording Devices) Bill to allow Garda members to have body-worn cameras from next year on. Again, I thank many Members for their support on this yesterday as it came to the House.

This month, An Garda Síochána began the tender process for purchasing bodycams and publicly demonstrated how they will work. Not only will this Bill allow us to give body-worn cameras but it will reform CCTV schemes. Under the Bill, community groups will now again be able to request schemes in their areas, something which has been paused for many years. This will help gardaí tackle crime and antisocial behaviour and many other issues in our communities. Above all, I believe the best way to support our Garda members is to have more of them and I keep saying this but the more we have and the more we lessen their workloads, the more we can get done. I have been very clear in my determination in that regard. I have also consistently asked gardaí what more I can do to provide supports for them, as they go about their jobs on a daily basis. I will always, obviously working closely with whosoever is the Minister of the day with responsibility for public expenditure, make sure money is available, be it for uniforms, better equipment, new technologies, supports such as the wellness days. Moreover, the new Keeping Our People Supported, KOPS, app, which is a well-being app available to members of An Garda Síochána, has been, from my engagement with members, very well-received. Just this week, I held discussions with Garda management on what more we can do to provide supports and initiatives to strengthen well-being and job satisfaction. I look forward to further announcements in this regard in the coming weeks.

The issue of Garda rosters is of central importance to the Garda workforce and to the Commissioner's ability to operate the organisation efficiently and effectively and to maximise Garda visibility. In recent years, members of An Garda Síochána gained access to the industrial relations machinery of the State. This includes the Workplace Relations Commission, WRC, and the Labour Court. This was agreed with by all in this House as a new system available to the gardaí when there were industrial relations disputes. In parallel at the time, a new internal dispute resolutions mechanism was introduced in An Garda Síochána. Essentially, this meant the management of industrial relations in An Garda Síochána then came under the direct remit of the Garda Commissioner. The Garda roster, which is currently in operation and which has become known as the Covid-19 roster, was introduced by the Commissioner to deal with the specific policing requirements that arose during the Covid-19 pandemic. Nobody believes that either this roster or the previous roster - the one that will be introduced - is a long-term solution so that is why we need to get to a stage where we have a new roster. We do have a new structure, a new system, in place that was put in place a number of years ago in order that senior management could work directly with the organisations within An Garda Síochána to deal with these types of disputes. Obviously there is now available to them the WRC. The only way to resolve this it by people getting around the table. The Commissioner has my full support but that does not mean that Garda members do not either. It is about people getting around the table and we need to make sure a solution is found here. As I said, the Commissioner has my support but I think we all support Garda members in the work they do and want to see a resolution.

In their motion today, the Senators said that protecting citizens is a founding duty of the State. They are right in this. They are right that policing has a central role in this but protecting our citizens is much wider than policing. It is about having laws that are fit for purpose, and ensuring we continually ask ourselves what more we can do to protect vulnerable people in society. Domestic abuse is something we once turned a blind eye to. It happened behind the front door so was none of our business. We now know that domestic abuse is not some lesser or softer form of crime unworthy of our attention. The appalling stories we hear show how much work we still have to do. Nor should we move away from other reforms that need to take place as well and I look forward to introducing new laws on hate crimes, and to update our laws regarding incitement to hatred for attacking or targeting people simply because of who they are. I have discussed these matters in the Seanad and I look forward to discussing these matters with Senators again. I also look forward to returning here to discuss ongoing Garda recruitment, the roll-out of the community safety partnerships, the community policing teams, bodycams, and above all how we can work together to build stronger safer communities.

I will very briefly point to last week's demonstrations. What happened outside the House was absolutely appalling. It should be condemned by absolutely everybody. There were people there who were genuinely protesting. There were people there for genuine reasons and who were peaceful in their protests. I know the response taken by An Garda Síochána was a graduated response to be able to respond as things escalated, which they did. However, there are always lessons to be learned and things that can change. I want to reassure colleagues that should these types of incidents arise, we will see gardaí respond in the most efficient and effective way, as they do, but it is important that we trust those who are on the ground and who are dealing with the situation as well. I thank Senators for their time and for the opportunity to outline the work that is being done with the support of many colleagues in this House.