Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael)
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18. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality if he will indicate the resource deployment to counter community safety concerns in Dublin city centre; and if he has received a report of the impact of the initiative, in crime statistics and in feedback from organisations in the area. [6758/23]

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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I can assure the Deputy that my Department is committed to ensuring that communities are safe and feel safe. To that end, the Government is investing unprecedented resources in An Garda Síochána to ensure that people feel Dublin City Centre is a safe place to live, work, visit, and do business in.

An Garda Síochána has a number of operations currently in place to tackle crime and anti-social behaviour in Dublin. This includes Operation Citizen, which aims to deliver an enhanced daily high-visibility policing presence in Dublin City Centre.

A new Garda Station will open in the coming weeks at 13A O'Connell Street and this will support the maintenance of a high visibility presence by Gardaí in the area. This will be in addition to the re-opening of nearby Fitzgibbon Street Garda station, which features a bespoke Crime Victim Support Suite, the first of its kind in Ireland. 

As the Deputy may be aware, innovative Local Community Safety Partnerships are currently being piloted in three locations including, Dublin's North Inner City. These are designed to identify the issues that cause communities to feel unsafe, and to address them by providing a forum for residents and community representatives, along with the relevant State agencies to prioritise and address them.

A mid-term evaluation, covering the first 12 months of the pilots, is due to be submitted to my Department shortly and the Dublin LCSP community safety plan is expected to be published soon.

My Department has provided funding to the Dublin LCSP through the Community Safety Innovation Fund to develop a Community Safety Warden scheme which will promote a space for recreation in and around Wolfe Tone Park, and an extension to the scheme will include the O’Connell Street area during weekends.

The scheme will provide a visible presence that will act both as a deterrent to criminal and anti-social behaviour, and as reassurance to the community. The Dublin LCSP also continues to work collaboratively with key stakeholder agencies to address matters as they arise, and has four proactive sub groups focussed on specific themes.

Paul Donnelly (Dublin West, Sinn Fein)
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19. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality if consideration has been given to tackle the upsurge in car robberies and subsequent anti-social behaviour across the city and in particular imported cars; the number of stolen cars reported and the amount of convictions for same in tabular form. [7421/23]

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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The Government firmly supports An Garda Síochána in its continued commitment to combatting criminal and anti-social behaviour. [Car theft is an invasive crime that impacts people right across Ireland.]

The Garda authorities advise me that local Garda management continue to monitor crime trends across their respective Divisions, including incidents of vehicle theft. I understand that when specific crime trends/pattern are identified, local management consider measures in addition to routine policing responses, including location-specific patrols, intelligence-led operations, and searches and arrests.

The Courts Service advise me that conviction statistics are not maintained in such a way to enable the identification of the type of property, including stolen cars, under the Theft and Fraud Offences Act.

I am informed by the Garda authorities that there were 421 reported incidents of ‘Theft / Unauthorised Taking of a Vehicle’ in January 2023 compared to 361 in January 2022, an increase of 17%. This increase aligns to the general increase of crime trends following the lifting of pandemic restrictions.

The Garda analysis indicates an increase in the theft of imported cars to be utilised for criminal behaviour such as joy riding, and also shows an increase in the theft of high value cars. However, the Garda authorities have had recent success in the investigation and recovery of vehicles, including investigations linked to organised crime activities.

I am further advised that Garda Crime Prevention Officers liaise with local media to promote effective preventative measures, including information about how to ‘Park Smart / Secure your Vehicle’. The Garda National Crime Prevention Unit have identified a three-pronged approach to further tackle this developing crime trend:

1) seeking to raise national public awareness through Crimecall;

2) adding additional security advice to the Garda webpage;

3) raising awareness through the network of Crime Prevention Officers around the country.