Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael)
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72. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality the pathway being put in place to establish community safety partnerships and community safety plans across Dublin; and if she has set out timelines for key milestones on the journey. [38005/24]

Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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Community safety is about people being safe and, importantly, feeling safe in their own communities. At the heart of this policy is the principle that every community has the right to be and feel safe in order to thrive and flourish.

Our approach to community safety is a whole-of-Government one. We want to bring the relevant social service providers, including the Gardaí, together with the community in a collaborative manner, by focusing on the concerns identified by the local community itself.

Local Community Safety Partnerships (LCSPs) are provided for in Part 3 of the Policing, Security and Community Safety Act 2024, which was signed into law by the President in February 2024. Rollout of the LCSPs will commence shortly in each local authority area.

Work is underway to ensure local coordinators are appointed for each prospective partnership and that a chair is selected. An Expression of Interest process is currently underway in a number of Local Authorities, with other Local Authorities having already completed the process to identify a suitable chairperson for each LCSP to recommend to me as Minister. This is a key milestone on the rollout of LCSPs in communities across the country.

Assessment panels for the role of chairperson in a number of local authority areas are taking place currently and nominations for the first chairpersons are under consideration. I am hopeful that many communities will start to see LCSPs established in their areas over the coming weeks.

The Partnerships will operate at local authority level and they will replace Joint Policing Committees (JPCs). The Partnerships will have a wider membership than JPCs and will include residents, local councillors, community representatives (including representatives of young people, older people, new and minority communities), business and education representatives and a range of public services including the HSE, Tusla, An Garda Síochána and the local authority.

Each newly established LCSP will be required to develop and implement its own tailored community safety plan and will take a strategic approach to their work so that issues arising can be dealt with in a coordinated manner; addressed collectively by relevant service providers in partnership with the community.

Pilot partnerships have been running in Longford, Waterford and Dublin's North Inner City, and each has published a local community safety plan, which are available on the respective local authority websites. The plans set out a number of agreed actions to be undertaken by the members of the Partnerships to enhance community safety in that area.

I will also be formally establishing a National Office for Community Safety later this year. The National Office will provide training, guidance and other support to the Local Community Safety Partnerships and will have responsibility for delivering the objectives of the national strategy, once approved. A Designate Director of the National Office of Community Safety has now commenced in their role. A number of staff have also been appointed and have been working on matters related to the establishment of the office.