Nessa Cosgrove (Labour) | Oireachtas source

People have the right to feel safe in their communities but they also have the right to thrive in their communities. I worked as a youth worker for more than 20 years. No young person wakes up in the morning and decides they will commit a crime. No young person decides throughout their life that they will become an addict. Crime cannot be treated in isolation. Years of underinvestment in front-line youth services and community-based services have led to this. I think the community policing model worked. Senator Duffy said this as well. I would love to see a move back to the community policing model. When I started in youth work more than 20 years ago, there was always a community garda presence, and that seems to have been eradicated over recent years.

We need to look at the whole area of drug use.That is the elephant in the room when we talk about crime. There was an important citizens' assembly on the use of drugs and taking a health and social education model to drug use. We need to start looking seriously at the decriminalisation of drugs and the users of drugs.

There is another area within crime prevention that we would support. Joint policing worked well. The Labour Party is in favour of the new local community safety partnerships, the membership of which will include 51% community members. The reduction of crime cannot be done on its own and we need to fully resource youth and community services. Youth workers are leaving the sector at an alarming rate because they are on low wages. Youth workers cannot be recruited. I urge the Minister of State to engage with section 39 workers. I am like a broken record on that point. Unless there is investment in front-line community people who work in services and do community work at the front line, the crime rate will go up. Prevention works, as does youth work.

We need to have a conversation about freeing up Garda time. It was welcome to see cautions brought in for adults who are caught in possession of a small amount of cannabis for personal use. We need a broader conversation about legalising cannabis. We need to consider how many of our resources are taken up, including police time that could be diverted to dealing with violent crime or gender-based violence.

We have all spoken about Garda recruitment this year, and the recruitment and retention of Garda members. There needs to be an increase in the supplementary payment to gardaí. There needs to be investment in Templemore. There needs to be further investment for the supplementary pension allowance. Retention of staff is the biggest issue. If we want to reduce crime and make people safer in their communities, we must keep the people working in the communities. The way things are going with wages, people are not being encouraged into, and are not staying in, the sector.

The issue of the regeneration of areas has been raised. Senator Duffy made reference to it. Many regeneration programmes have been successful through working with different Departments, including the Department of housing. In Sligo, for example, there was considerable investment in the regeneration of Cranmore. It has changed things. Morale has changed and there is a better sense of pride in the community. People seem safer. There has been investment in playgrounds, recreational space and lighting. The budget has fallen short, however, and the community centre is going to suffer. The approach should be flipped upside down because the community centre should be the first place invested in and everything should be built around it.

I hope the Minister of State will listen to what people on the ground are saying, those who are working directly with young people and community groups. If there are going to be new local community safety partnerships, I hope that public participation networks, PPNs, community groups and people working directly with young people in addiction services, Garda diversion programmes and youth work services will form a part of the conversation.