Malcolm Noonan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

On behalf of the Minister for Justice, I give assurance to the Senator that the Minister and the whole of Government are committed to the principle that everybody should feel safe and be safe in their community. I note the issues the Senator has raised, in particular about community safety in very remote rural locations in Longford and Roscommon.

The safety of people living and working in rural Ireland, including Roscommon, is a major priority for the Minister. The Government is committed, through the national development plan, to providing essential capital moneys to upgrade and modernise Garda stations. It is important to say that the Garda Commissioner is responsible for all decisions regarding the opening of new Garda stations or reopening stations. Works on the Garda estate are undertaken by the OPW in close co-operation with the Garda authorities. This includes identifying and progressing any new stations or refurbishing existing stations.

With regard to crime and safety, our approach to community safety is a whole-of-government one. Enhancing rural safety includes everything from having more visible gardaí in the community to providing safe public spaces and amenities. That is why we are bringing the relevant social service providers, including the Garda, together with the community in a collaborative manner by focusing on the concerns identified by the local community itself.

Three pilot local community safety partnerships, LCSPs, have been running since 2021, including one in Longford, and each has published a local community safety plan. A process to hire independent chairpersons for each LCSP is under way in most local authority areas, including in Roscommon. The Minister is hopeful that many communities will start to see LCSPs established in their areas over the coming weeks.The Senator raised the importance of a visible Garda presence to deter and detect crime and to help people feel safe in communities. Crimes such as theft and burglary cause enormous harm to hard-working members of rural communities and we are determined to fight this scourge.

The Senator may be interested to know in late September a Garda operation took place in the Mayo-Roscommon-Longford division to target suspects involved in rural burglaries. Suspects were formally identified during several weeks of investigation. Arrests were made by the Garda and a number of individuals were before brought before the courts.

It is also worth noting the remarkable progress made since Garda Operation Thor, which was specifically aimed at burglaries, was launched in 2015. Following it, there has been a 75% reduction in residential burglaries nationwide. That is a significant drop. Operation Thor actively targets organised crime gangs and repeat offenders through co-ordinated crime prevention and enforcement activity based on intelligence and the latest burglary trends.

I also note that throughout 2023, the Criminal Assets Bureau, CAB, placed emphasis on targeting the criminal groups engaged in property crime, such as burglaries and robberies. A particular focus of CAB's activities centred upon rural crime and a number of its actions were in support of law enforcement in regional locations. I hope that is of some comfort to the Senator in terms of the response of An Garda Síochána. As I stated on behalf of the Minister for Justice, this is a whole-community and whole-of-government response to rural crime.