Neale Richmond (Dublin Rathdown, Fine Gael)
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31. To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform the status of funding for the Community Safety Innovation Fund; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [2342/22]

Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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As the Deputy is aware, last year, the Minister for Justice and I jointly announced our agreement to establish a new fund to further support community safety in recognition of the success of An Garda Síochána and the Criminal Assets Bureau in depriving criminal gangs of the proceeds of crime.   Accordingly a provision of €2 million was allocated to the Department of Justice to establish a new Community Safety Innovation Fund as part of the Budget 2022 package.

This funding will support the work of the Community Safety Partnerships and other policy initiatives in the Department of Justice in the areas of Community Safety and Youth Justice and is in addition to the €6.7 million in extra funding which I made available for the Youth Justice Strategy in 2022,  which will develop and deliver programmes and early interventions for children and young people in communities across the country. The criteria for the fund is currently being finalised by the Department of Justice and will be announced in the near future with applications to be accepted soon after in Q1 2022.