James Bannon (Longford-Westmeath, Fine Gael)
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Question 431: To ask the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform the measures he is taking to build a safe society here by protecting citizens and enforcing the law; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [16367/08]

Brian Lenihan Jnr (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)
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The challenge of building a safer, fairer Ireland, and in particular the continuing fight against crime, is of course a top priority for this Government. The Deputy will I am sure appreciate that there is no single action or piece of legislation that can on its own address this multifaceted issue in its entirety. For this reason I would draw the Deputy's attention to my Department's Annual Report for 2007 which outlines the many legislative, operational and community initiatives being taken to build a safer Ireland and to my recent statement to the Dáil on 4 March during the Private Members motion on crime.

I would draw the Deputy's particular attention to the Department's programme of robust criminal justice legislation, as well as on-going prison building and modernisation, increasing Garda numbers, this year's record Garda budget, the 2008 Policing Plan, the drive to tackle the anti-social downside of alcohol consumption, especially among under age drinkers, the work of Cosc (the National Office for the Prevention of Domestic, Sexual and Gender-based Violence), the work of the Irish Youth Justice Service, the increasing number of youth diversion projects and joint policing committees, and the restorative justice, crime victims and other initiatives that are underway.

Under each of the headings and across the entire range of my Department's responsibilities, we will continue to work with communities throughout the country towards achieving our objective of a safer, fairer Ireland.