Niall Collins (Limerick, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context

Question 620: To ask the Minister for Justice and Equality the efforts being made to combat drug dealing in Dublin City Centre; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [36804/12]

Alan Shatter (Dublin South, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context

I can assure the Deputy that the Government and the Garda authorities are fully cognisant of the damaging and negative impact that drug dealing and related anti-social behaviour can have on our city centres.

It affects not only those who are a part of the business or residential community in the area but also those who visit our city centre on a daily basis, whether for business or pleasure.

I am advised by the Garda authorities that a number of highly successful policing initiatives have been implemented by local Garda management in recent times to combat anti-social behaviour, public disorder issues and street-level drug dealing in the city centre. These involve the deployment of uniform and plain-clothes Garda personnel conducting dedicated patrols in key commercial areas and public thoroughfares at strategic times.

Targeted Garda operations in place in the area include "Operation Stilts" (tackling anti-social behaviour along the Liffey boardwalk and it's environs). Garda records indicate that, over a two-year period from June 2010 to end June 2012, a total of just over 10,000 drug searches have taken place in this area and that drugs with an estimated street-value in excess of €290,000 have been seized. This initiative has been extended recently to include additional identified areas, in order to adequately manage the displacement of relevant persons from those areas close to the drug treatment centres, where Garda activity has always been prominent.

In addition, a fundamental aspect of the recently revised "Operation Stilts" model is the identification of prolific offenders who frequent the area on a regular basis who are now being specifically targeted and are issued with anti-social behaviour warnings as the circumstances dictate.

Further initiatives such as "Operation Viking" (targeting street-level drug-dealing in the environs of Pearse Street) and "Operation Pier" (combating and reducing opportunities for public disorder and associated anti-social behaviour in the Temple Bar area) are also in place in the Dublin city centre area.

I am further informed that there are now forty-four CCTV cameras, which are monitored by Garda personnel from the Garda Camera office on O'Connell Street, with a further thirty-three CCTV cameras monitored from Pearse Street Garda Station on a 24-hour basis.

In addition, a number of partnerships have been established between An Garda Síochána and the business community, including the various transport service providers in the city centre, to address related issues.

Finally, I can assure the Deputy of the Government's steadfast commitment to tackling the overall problem of drug misuse under the framework of the National Drugs Strategy 2009-2016. I would also like to assure the Deputy that An Garda Síochána will continue to vigorously tackle the illegal supply of drugs at all levels and in all locations.