Barry Ward (Fine Gael)
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Cuirim fáilte roimh an Aire Stáit chuig an Teach. Is dócha gurb é seo an chéad uair a chonaic mé sa Teach é ón am a cheapadh sa phost nua é. Mar sin, déanaim comhghairdeas leis freisin.

The Minister of State will be very aware of the "Prime Time" programme earlier this week which covered the abuse, harassment, racial attacks, shoplifting and general crime being perpetrated against retail workers in Ireland. Anyone who saw the programme will have been shocked by the kind of conduct that seems to be de rigueurfor workers in shops, petrol stations etc. throughout Ireland. It was with great dismay that we saw that happening. Some of us will have even witnessed that kind of behaviour ourselves. I tabled this Commencement matter specifically for the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment because I know this affects the Minister of State in his role with responsibility for the retail sector.

I also recognise the enormous role played by Tara Buckley from RGDATA representing the small retailers and grocers around the country who are at the front line of this kind of behaviour. It has conducted surveys with its own members showing that 95% of them have been the victims of crime and 93% of them have been the victims of shoplifting. I know the Minister of State is part of the retail theft forum also involving the Garda. The Garda's own figures have shown a 41% increase in this kind of behaviour. Shopkeepers have said this grew during the pandemic and has not abated after the fact. It will have an enormous impact on the ability of retail shops to provide an essential service for local communities.

I have frequently complained that since the pandemic we have not opened up the evenings in particular. It is difficult to get a pint of milk after 9 p.m. anywhere in the country. Equally fast food outlets and restaurants are closing earlier than they would have before the pandemic. That will affect us on an economic level but it is also crippling for the night-time economy. The likelihood that somebody who owns a small shop will open later when faced with a greater difficulty in dealing with antisocial behaviour and the harassment we saw in that programme is considerably reduced, which is a retrograde step.

What is the Government doing to address these issues? Is the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment working with the other Departments to put in place measures to ensure shopkeepers can feel safe? This ranges from serious criminal activity, such as armed assaults involving knives and other weapons to shoplifting, the costs of which ultimately will be passed on to the consumer because retailers cannot continue to bear the burden of lost stock. It also involves harassment, abuse, antisocial behaviour and racial harassment. This week, not before time, the national action plan against racism was published.

These are serious issues. I know the Government is serious about tackling them. I ask the Minister of State to outline the provisions he wants to see put in place to address these issues to reassure shopkeepers that we value the role they play in society. To show we value the service they provide to towns, villages and communities throughout the country, we need to address the issues raised in the course of that programme by Tara Buckley and others on behalf of the people they represent.

Neale Richmond (Dublin Rathdown, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Senator sincerely for raising this timely and pertinent issue. It is an issue I am extremely interested in as the Minister of State responsible for retail and one about which I have serious concerns that affect all our communities. It is important to put a statistic out there. There are more than 225,000 retail workers in the State. It is the largest private sector employer in the State and has huge importance to our economy but crucially also to our communities. I think that goes to some of the points the Senator is making in terms of the ability to access stores late at night. I watched the "Prime Time" episode on Tuesday night and more importantly, I chaired the retail forum in the Department yesterday where this was discussed at my request. We added it into the agenda under any other business. I will be really clear before the House this morning on the point that everyone should feel safe in their workplace. It does not matter where they work, but I refer in particular to retail workers and consumer and front-facing staff in every sector. This is an area on which I intend on working closely with the Minster for Justice, Deputy Harris. I spoke with him yesterday about it briefly but we are going to speak again. After speaking to and engaging with retailers and representatives such as Ms Tara Buckley of RGDATA, I am aware that the main way they want to be kept safe is by having more gardaí on the ground, on the streets in our community and not trapped behind a desk in a Garda station. That is why, as a Government, we are prioritising high visibility policing as shown in Operation Citizen, which has been ongoing in Dublin city for some time now. The results are clear: having more gardaí on the streets helps not only to make people feel safer but also reduces crime and actually keeps us as citizens safe. We also have Operation Soteria in place to ensure a reduction of assaults in public, to reduce fear of violence within communities, to prioritise assault investigations and to focus on problem areas and assault hot spots. This is what we need to replicate across the country and we are well on our way towards doing so. There is of course a role for sentencing here too. The Criminal Justice Bill 2022 will bring forward an increase in the maximum penalty available for the offence of assault causing harm from five years to ten years' imprisonment. While we all want to deter crimes before they take place, and high visibility policing works towards this, we also must punish those who commit these assaults to send a strong message that they are not acceptable.

Budget 2023 allowed for the recruitment of 1,000 additional gardaí to join the ranks, as well as 400 civilian staff. These civilian staff members are so important because they do the administrative work in the stations which allows members of the Garda themselves to spend more time in our communities where they want to be. I firmly believe this lies at the heart of keeping everyone safe, retail workers included, and I am glad to hear that the Minister, Deputy Harris, agrees with this. Tomorrow, a new Garda recruitment campaign will kick off a new Garda recruitment period. This goes to the fact that over €2.14 billion has been put into the An Garda Síochána budget for this year and we are not holding back on achieving these goals.

As the Senator knows, this is an issue that I have raised many times previously in this House but also when I was a Deputy on the backbenches. It is vitally important we have the increased number of gardaí. Now that Templemore has been reopened and we are constantly attesting members of the Garda, we are not only plugging the gap of retirements or resignations but are getting more gardaí out into communities and onto the streets. Crucially, we are working with retailers and local business groups to feed in their experience and their views on what they would like to see happen to keep their workers safe. An Garda Síochána has a range of national, regional and local operations aimed at reducing antisocial behaviour and improving feelings of community safety. Garda management keeps the distribution of resources under continual review and this is something on which I will continue to work with the Minister, Deputy Harris. Crucially, I would like to work with the Senator, with groups like RGDATA and other Members across the Oireachtas, to make sure our retails workers are put front and centre in ensuring their workplaces are safe ones.

Barry Ward (Fine Gael)
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I thank the Minister of State. At the outset, I really appreciate the fact that he has made clear the Government's view that everybody should feel safe in their workplace and that is at the heart of this. I also recognise what was said about An Garda Síochána and the work being done by the Minister, Deputy Harris, by the Minister, Deputy McEntee. and the future work that will be done to build up the numbers in An Garda Síochána so that we have that visible policing that reassures people as well as providing easy access to law enforcement when the time comes. I welcome the campaign that will be launched this week to ensure we have the numbers of people going into Templemore to take on that job, which is one that is worth doing. It is a hugely rewarding position.

I also recognise what Tara Buckley said last night about the frustration of retailers with the Courts Service and the administration of criminal justice in terms of dealing with offenders in this space. I say that as somebody who is working within that sphere as well. As a criminal barrister, I see these cases going through the system. There are delays in that process and one of the things we need to do is to make sure that the Courts Service is equipped to speed up the delivery of justice. That is going to mean more judges, courtrooms, court and support staff to make sure those hearings can take place and the people responsible can be brought to justice.

Neale Richmond (Dublin Rathdown, Fine Gael)
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I will conclude briefly by thanking the Senator once again for raising this point and underlining the fact that I absolutely fundamentally agree with him, both in terms of his comments in relation to additional Garda resources but crucially, additional resources for the Courts Service. That is why I welcome the announcement by the Minister, Deputy Harris, of the recruitment of more judges. That only goes to one part of it. One cannot have a judge without an effective Courts Service with the ancillary staff that go with it, with the physical locations and making sure our courts are sitting in a manner that will ensure justice is served quickly and fairly. What is crucial in this area is making sure first and foremost that retail workers are kept safe in their workplace but second, when an offence does happen, that justice is served in a timely and efficient manner and in a manner that does not take a retail worker or their employer away from their workplace for too long. I will absolutely bring all that back to the Minister, Deputy Harris. I emphasise that this is an issue on which the Government will not rest. We want to make sure all workers are safe in their workplaces. We have seen measures in relation to our front-line workers, our public service staff at our hospitals and in other areas but we need to expand that. We need to ensure retail workers in shops of all sizes, be they the small corner stores represented by RGDATA or the larger multiples, will go to work every day feeling safe and knowing they will not be put under threats of antisocial behaviour and violence.

Martin Conway (Fine Gael)
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I thank the Minister of State and commend Senator Ward on tabling this very important Commencement matter. As somebody who was in the retail business for many years, I was quite shocked to see what we saw on "Prime Time" the other night. I think it is something that was very relevant to raise here in the Chamber. I commend the Minister of State on his on-the-ball reply and hopefully, we will see action.