James Browne (Wexford, Fianna Fail)
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I can assure the Deputy that the Government is committed to the principle that everyone should be safe, and feel safe, and my Department has taken a number of steps in this regard. This is reflected in the unprecedented allocation of over €2.48 billion to An Garda Síochána in Budget 2025, up 27% since 2020, demonstrating the Government’s commitment to ensuring An Garda Síochána has provision for the equipment, technology, facilities, fleet and personnel it needs to carry out vital policing work.

There are a number of Garda Operations taking place in Dublin to provide a high-visibility policing presence and deter anti-social behaviour. These include:

• Operation Citizen which continues to reassure the citizens, visitors and the business community in Dublin City Centre that it is a safe place in which to visit, socialise, conduct business and enjoy its amenities;
• Operation Saul which aims to provide a safe environment for commuters utilising public transport services in the Dublin Metropolitan Region;
• Operation Táirge targeting Retail Theft;
• Operation Tara tackling street level drug-dealing.

I am informed by the Garda authorities that Operation Citizen continues to be implemented in Dublin City Centre. Operation Citizen has been in operation since October 2021 and was implemented for the purpose of providing reassurance to citizens, visitors and the business community that Dublin city centre is a safe place in which to visit, conduct business, socialise and enjoy its amenities.

The aim of the operation is to deliver an enhanced, high-visibility policing presence in the city centre on a daily basis. Operation Citizen focuses on a collaborative community and stakeholder engagement approach, recognising that many of the issues that arise in the city centre require a response that reaches beyond An Garda Síochána alone.

As part of this operation, uniform Garda members perform high visibility patrols on foot and bicycle, and respond to reports of crime in Dublin city centre. The members deployed on Operation Citizen are drawn from Store Street and Pearse Street Garda stations, utilising the members that are best placed to provide an effective policing service, bringing with them local knowledge. The personnel from both Store Street and Pearse Street Garda Stations are allocated on a full-time basis to ‘Operation Citizen’.

Additionally, Community Policing units are assigned to designated areas in the city centre and are tasked with maintaining links within their communities and stakeholders, conducting Business Watch and Campus Watch liaison and meetings.

Operation Citizen, Community Policing personnel, and Garda National Public Order Units conduct additional patrols of public transport links as part of Operation SAUL, to deter anti-social behaviour in the vicinity of the Luas, DART or train stations and bus stops.

The Street Crime Units based in the city centre target pickpocketing and conduct specific operations throughout the year focusing on theft from the person activities occurring in the city centre.

An Garda Síochána continues to work with Dublin City Council and other stakeholders including the Local Community Safety Partnership (LCSP) in the North Inner City, the HSE, residents and business groups through both formal and informal established networks to collectively identify ways to improve the experience in the city centre. The North Inner City LCSP is one of three pilot LCSPs which has developed a Local Community Safety Plan, setting out a number of actions which are in train to improve safety and perception of safety in Dublin's city centre.

Furthermore, the Anti-Social Behaviour Forum, which is chaired by Minister of State James Browne, is developing measures which will address the factors which give rise to such behaviour and its impact on community morale and quality of life.

The Forum has established four sub-groups. These sub-groups consider the specific issues of the misuse of scramblers and quadbikes, knife crime, responses to ASB impacts on housing complexes managed by Local Authorities (LA) or Approved Housing Bodies (AHBs), and the powers available to An Garda Síochána in relation to public order offences. Similar sub-groups can be established to examine other issues as required.