Róisín Shortall (Dublin North West, Labour)
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Question 129: To ask the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform his views on the report of the Dublin Lord Mayor's commission on policing and crime; if he intends to act on the recommendations contained in the report; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [4927/05]

Michael McDowell (Dublin South East, Progressive Democrats)
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I am currently considering the report and its recommendations, and I will be responding to the Lord Mayor in the near future. The Garda Síochána can operate effectively only if the support and assistance of the community they are policing are forthcoming. Proactive local authorities are vital in bringing this about.

A number of the report's recommendations, such as those relating to the need for more gardaí on patrol, echo my own priorities for the additional gardaí who will become available over the next three years, following the increase in the strength of the Garda Síochána to 14,000. These additional gardaí will be put into frontline, operational, high visibility policing targeted at the areas of greatest need. The Garda Commissioner has ordered increased local foot patrolling in recent months, and this has been facilitated by the 140,000 additional overtime hours I made available in November last. I am determined to build on this initiative and to build up the status and effectiveness of community policing which is one of the success stories of law enforcement in recent years.

The report discusses how co-operation between the Garda Síochána and local authorities might be enhanced. The Garda Síochána Bill, currently being debated in the House, aims to enhance the accountability of the Garda Síochána, not only through the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform to Dáil Éireann, but also by way of a direct formal linkage with local government and its institutions. The provisions in the Bill for joint policing committees, where local representatives and the Garda will be able to work together to address local policing and issues within the responsibility of the local authority, address many of the report's recommendations. The committees will be a significant innovation in local democracy which can only strengthen policing at the local level. A number of the commission's proposals are now incorporated in the Bill after it was amended in the other House, and the changes enhance the democratic mandate urged by the commission.

The Garda Síochána Bill confers significant powers on the Minister. It can do this because the Minister is accountable to Dáil Éireann and through it to the people and will exercise these powers democratically. For these reasons I am not convinced of the argument for a national Garda board, as the commission recommends.

A number of issues which the commission raises, such as the lack of a policing presence, problems of police numbers, responsive policing, embedding policing within the community and supplementing the gardaí are the sort of issues I would see the joint policing committees dealing with. I believe in maximising the input of local authorities in matters which impact on crime and anti-social behaviour such as by-laws, design of housing, public spaces, public lighting, estate management and getting the balance right in mixing social and affordable housing and avoiding ghettoisation in communities.

The commission is rightly concerned about the abuse of alcohol and its contribution to public order offending. I have long since shared these concerns and brought forward tough new provisions to deal with alcohol abuse and its effect on public order in the Intoxicating Liquor Act 2003. The commission advocates the increased use of temporary closure orders. The provisions currently in the legislation in this regard are strong. The Act also gave local authorities a new role in relation to the duration of special exemption orders, allowing them to adopt a resolution regarding the duration of such orders in their areas, which the District Court is then required to have regard to in relation to applications for special exemption orders in the area concerned.