Alison Comyn (Fianna Fail)
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I welcome to the Seanad the Minister, Jim O'Callaghan.

Mary Fitzpatrick (Fianna Fail)
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I too welcome the visitors from Ringsend. It is opportune that the Minister would take this Commencement matter while his constituents are in the House. Ladies, you are most welcome.

This morning I ask that the Minister update the House on the community safety partnerships that are due to be rolled out in the 31 local authorities. In the previous Oireachtas term, the Minister for Justice brought through the House the Policing, Security and Community Safety Act 2024. I and my colleagues in Fianna Fáil supported that legislation and worked very hard to secure in that legislation a commitment from the Minister that when the community safety partnerships would be established the regulations would stipulate that the local elected representatives in each of the local authorities would have strong representation on the partnerships and that the partnerships, once established, would have as their chairpersons members elected to the relevant local authorities. The reason I and my Fianna Fáil colleagues worked very hard to secure that commitment from the Minister for Justice is that we understand it is incredibly important that all our communities feel safe, with safe places to live, to work and to visit, and that young children, their families and our senior citizens all feel they live in a safe environment. The Minister has taken great strides to increase garda numbers, and we commend him on that and on his plans to increase prison places and the proposal to potentially introduce electronic tagging. These are all really good initiatives, and the Garda is to be commended and the Minister's work and his Department's work are to be supported, but community engagement is incredibly important because we cannot have a garda on every single corner and every street at every hour of the day. It is just not practical, it is not possible and none of us want to live in a police state. We want community safety partnerships that reflect the community concerns and the concerns that people encounter in their daily business, going to the shops, maybe antisocial behaviour they witness that is intimidating and discouraging people from going out and using their local public places.

I would like the Minister to update the House today on when the community safety partnerships will be implemented and up and operational and the membership of those community safety partnerships, and that they will have members elected from their local communities, the local authority members. They are the people who get the complaints, the people on the front line listening to residents and community groups and understanding where antisocial behaviour is happening and where crime is taking place. They can inform and should be the ones informing the agenda for each of the local community safety partnerships. They should be in a position to put themselves forward and be selected as the chairs of those community safety partnerships.Will the Minister provide clarity on the arrangements to be put in place for the capital? We have four local authorities in Dublin. It is the capital. The Minister has put significant priority on increasing safety in the capital. I welcome and support that and I believe these arrangements will greatly enhance potential for increasing community safety in the capital and in each of the 31 local authorities. I look forward to the Minister's update.

Jim O'Callaghan (Dublin Bay South, Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Senator for requesting my attendance in the Seanad this morning. It is important I am here to answer the questions she has raised. Coincidentally, it is also of great benefit to me because the Ringsend active retirement group are here as guests of Senator Andrews and the Terenure men's shed are here as my guests. I am fortunate to have two important groups from my constituency here. It shows the benefit of senior Ministers turning up to answer questions in the Seanad.

The Senator will be aware that in April of this year I commenced the Policing, Security and Community Safety Act 2024, which will regulate policing and community safety in this country. Under section 114 of the Act, I am entitled to make regulations to establish the local community safety partnerships the Senator referred to. I am pleased to say that last week I signed the regulations for the partnerships and they came into effect this week on Monday, 30 June. A total of 36 partnerships will be established across the country. Their purpose is to ensure the interests and needs of the local community are served by the individuals who will be on the partnerships. There will be a central and important role for councillors under these regulations and in the partnerships. Regulation 4 states there will be a requirement for seven elected members of the relevant local authority to be nominated to the safety partnership. The chairperson of each partnership is a matter for the partnership that will be assembled. Like the Senator, I recognise the qualifications councillors will have to serve as chairpersons and I am hopeful councillors will put themselves forward, as they will bring the benefits derived from being an elected representative of the area.

It is important to emphasise the partnerships are central to the Government's new whole-of-society approach to community safety. They will bring together elected representatives, gardaí and persons involved in important services provided by State agencies, such as the HSE and Tusla. The regulations I signed outline clearly how the safety partnerships will operate and ensure each partnership operates with transparency, strategic focus and strong local engagement.

The Senator referred to the fact the capital will be treated slightly differently. That is correct. There will be five safety partnerships for the five administrative areas within Dublin City Council's area. That is appropriate considering the vastness of the city. There will be two in Fingal as well. Each partnership will be led by a chair supported by a co-ordinator and administrator. These full-time permanent staff posts are resourced by the Department of justice and employed by the relevant local authority. It is important that the Department of justice plays an involved role in the partnerships. There is no point in setting them up and not giving them the support they require. In preparation for the establishment of the partnerships, local authorities have been recruiting these staff and so far 24 co-ordinators and 18 administrators have been appointed across the country.

The Act also provides for a national office for community safety to be established in my Department. The staff of this office have held a number of information sessions with staff appointed to the partnerships by local authorities. I am engaging with the officials in my Department who are responsible for the office. It will be a very important office and will ensure the partnerships operate effectively throughout the country.

Mary Fitzpatrick (Fianna Fail)
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It is encouraging to hear of the efficiency with which the Minister has progressed the regulations and the preparations in train in the local authorities. I welcome the fact there will be five in the city and, to reflect its growing population and expanding demographic, two in Fingal. I echo the Minister's comments on local councillors. They get elected because they know the people they represent and the local area. They care about it. They put themselves forward, primarily in a voluntary capacity, motivated by pride in their community. They want to champion and achieve the best for the community. They have a finger on the pulse and are uniquely positioned to set the agenda for the local community safety partnerships, which will bring together the statutory agencies - the local authority, the Garda, the health service, Tusla, education and welfare and so on - to address the issues on the agenda. I wish all the local community safety partnerships much success. I hope they deliver for each of their communities. Will the Minister indicate the timeframe within which there will be an evaluation? I cannot recall whether it is a three-year evaluation period. If the Minister has that information to hand, it would be useful.

Jim O'Callaghan (Dublin Bay South, Fianna Fail)
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The Senator is correct about councillors. Like her, I started my political career as a councillor, as did many Members of this and the Lower House. There is a huge benefit in being elected to a local authority by the local community. I do not think it is possible to get elected to a local authority unless one is well aware of the issues in the community. That is why it is so important the seven members of the partnerships are elected members of the local authority.

Chairperson of a partnership will be an important role. Councillors are eminently qualified for it. In drafting the regulations, I wanted to ensure councillors and anybody else would have an opportunity to put themselves forward to a partnership. In the first instance, it would be preferable if councillors put themselves forward.

We will have to watch the progression of the partnerships carefully. There were benefits to the joint policing committees, of which the Senator and I were members. They have now come to an end. We want something more than the joint policing committees. From my experience, sometimes the committees could just be a box-ticking exercise. We want people responsible for important services in the area so they can engage on policing and on community safety. That requires more than just An Garda Síochána, which has a huge amount on its desk. I thank the Senator for raising the issue. We will engage further on it in the future.