Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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At the outset, I would like to assure the Deputy that this Government is committed to building stronger, safer communities in our towns and cities and in rural Ireland. Everybody has the right to feel safe and to be safe in their homes and on their land and property.

I have prioritised the enactment of a series of laws intended to increase the safety and security of communities. Recent legislation provides for substantially increased sentences for a range of offences. This has included:

• doubling the maximum sentence for assault causing harm to 10 years;
• increasing the sentence for conspiracy to murder from 10 years to life;
• and increasing the sentence for assaulting a Garda or emergency worker from 7 to 12 years.

The Rural Safety Plan 2022-2024, published by Minister Browne, sets out a vision for people and communities in rural Ireland to feel safe and be safe in their homes, their places of work, and their local environments. The plan identified five key areas in relation to rural safety which needed to be addressed: Community Safety, Burglary and Theft, Roads Policing, Animal Crime and Heritage Crime and outlines the key actions underway in these priority areas.

I have also brought through legislation that will put An Garda Síochána on a clear path to start rolling out bodyworn cameras on front-line Gardaí from next year. I intend to bring a general scheme for a Garda Síochána (Digital Management and Facial Recognition Technology) Bill to Government in the coming weeks. This Bill will enable Gardaí to use facial recognition technology in limited circumstances to assist in identifying offenders in respect of serious violent offences.

My top priority is building stronger, safer communities and that is reflected in the budget allocation of €2.31 billion announced for An Garda Síochána, which has grown considerably since I took office in 2020. High visibility policing is of course a vital part of our efforts to fight crime and anti-social behaviour. Recruitment into An Garda Síochána has accelerated following the forced closure of the Garda College due to Covid-19, and we are now seeing Garda recruits regularly enter Templemore.

An Garda Síochána runs a number of initiatives aimed at improving community safety and tackling crime. These include:

• Operation Tara, which tackles street-level drug dealing, focuses on disrupting and dismantling the drug trafficking networks that impact on our communities and prosecuting those involved at every level across the country.
• Crime Prevention Officers across the country who are available to offer safety advice and answer concerns from various members of the community, including young people, at community engagement events.
• Operation Soteria - the national operation that has the aim of preventing assaults occurring, through targeted, timely patrols and engaging with community partners to promote personal safety. This initiative continues and has raised awareness of the consequences of assaults on victims, their families and convicted persons.
• 'Use Your Brain, Not Your Fists' - awareness raising campaign that aims to reduce the number of assaults carried out by males between 18 and 39 years of age. It appeals to young males to think of the consequences for themselves and others of being involved in assaults.

A number of priority actions are contained in the Programme for Government and Justice Plan 2023 to reduce instances of anti-social behaviour and help people to be safe and feel safe in their local communities. These include:

• setting up of the expert forum on antisocial behaviour;
• expanding youth diversion to the 18-24 year old age group;
• implementing the Youth Justice Strategy 2021 - 2017;
• criminalising adults who groom children into criminality;
• delivering a programme to tackle the misuse of scramblers and similar vehicles.

In addition, the Minister for Transport has enacted legislation to give the Gardaí stronger powers to seize scrambler bikes.

The Anti-Social Behaviour Forum, which is chaired by Minister Browne, is developing measures which will address the factors which give rise to ASB and its impact on community morale and quality of life. The forum met most recently on 24 October 2023. Three subgroups of the Forum have been established to consider the specific issues of knife crime, the misuse of scramblers and quad bikes, and responses to Anti-Social Behaviour impacts on housing complexes managed by Approved Housing Bodies (AHBs).

I have enacted a law to improve post release supervision of sex offenders and to provide for electronic tagging. I have also introduced and enacted a law to facilitate access to certain communications data to protect national security and tackle serious crime.

Other important pieces of legislation include a new Police Powers Bill and a Bill to update the powers available to security and law enforcement services to lawfully access communications to ensure these important powers are fit for purpose in dealing with online threats and criminal activity.

The Commission on the Future of Policing recognised that community safety is a whole of Government responsibility. To help achieve this goal, three pilot Local Community Safety Partnerships (LCSPs) have been established. The Partnerships will build upon and replace the existing Joint Policing Committees, bringing together Gardaí, local representatives, community organisations and State bodies, to draft a Community Safety Plan tailored to the community's needs. Nobody understands the needs of a community better than those who live there.

I published the Government’s Zero Tolerance plan to tackle domestic, sexual and gender based violence in June 2022. The Strategy is an ambitious, five-year, whole-of-Government programme of reform and its publication was accompanied by a detailed implementation plan covering the first 18 months, with yearly implementation plans thereafter. This will ensure the strategy is a living document and emerging issues can be incorporated.

There is a huge body of work underway. Key elements include a range of policies and legislation, as well as increases in budgetary allocations:

• Key to delivering on its ambition is the establishment of the new statutory based DSGBV Agency will bring the expertise and focus required to tackle this complex social issue, which will be operational early next year.
• Under Budget 2024, an additional €12m in funding for combatting DSGBV has been allocated. This represents a record 25% increase and will support the implementation of the Zero Tolerance plan - including by facilitating the establishment of the new agency. It will also assist the agency in meeting the acute needs for services throughout the country.
• The doubling of the overall number of refuge units over the lifetime of the Strategy. To achieve this we are working with all stakeholders to put in place the necessary structures and supports to accelerate the delivery of additional refuge accommodation year on year.
• Development of up to 36 refuge units is underway in Wexford, Dundalk and Navan. There will be 98 refuge units in priority locations delivered by end 2025 along with a further 19 additional and upgraded units by the end of the strategy.
• Under the current implementation plan there are 144 actions assigned to various Departments, the majority of which have, or are, progressing in line with the specified timeframes.
• introducing new offences of stalking and non fatal strangulation and doubles the maximum penalty for assault causing harm to 10 years.