Brendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)
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141. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality when the regulations in respect of the establishment of community safety partnerships will be issued to local authorities; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [40360/24]

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.

Final preparations are underway in my Department to commence the Policing, Security and Community Safety Act 2024 later this year. This includes finalising the suite of secondary legislation required to support commencement with the Office of Parliamentary Counsel. The Regulations required under Section 114 on the establishment and operation of LCSPs form part of this ongoing work and will be shared with local authorities when ready.

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.

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 each Local Authority to identify a suitable chairperson for each LCSP. Assessment panels have commenced for the role of chairperson in a number of local authority areas and nominations for the chairpersons will be submitted to me in due course.

I recently announced the appointment of chairpersons to the first seven LCSPs being established across the country, and I am hopeful that many communities will start to see LCSPs established in their areas over the coming weeks.