Erin McGreehan (Louth, Fianna Fail)
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177. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality the measures he is putting in place to tackle rural crime; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [12521/25]

Jim O'Callaghan (Dublin Bay South, Fianna Fail)
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Community safety is a top priority for my Department, and everyone has the right to be safe and feel safe in their communities. Rural Ireland is no exception.

In 2019, the National Rural Safety Forum was established. The Forum comprises organisations, including my Department, An Garda Síochána and the IFA, and people with a common purpose of ensuring rural safety. The Forum works to develop a nationwide network for the distribution of consistent highly effective crime prevention advice, increase engagement within communities and prevent and reduce opportunities for crime.

The Forum published the first national Rural Safety Plan in 2022 and a successor Plan will be published later this year. The Plan’s vision is to ensure people and communities in rural Ireland feel safe and are safe in their homes, places of work, and their local environments.

Theft of valuable farm equipment causes enormous difficulties for hard-working members of our farming community and the Government is determined to support the Gardaí to effectively combat this crime.

In order to protect property, Garda Crime Prevention Officers educate, promote and encourage community-based alert and property-marking schemes, and last September the Garda Property Register app was launched.

The additional resources this Government has provided to An Garda Síochána for recruitment and equipment will benefit all areas of the country.

It is worth noting the remarkable progress made since Garda Operation Thor, specifically aimed at burglaries, was launched in 2015, there has been a 75% reduction in residential burglaries nationwide.

Enhancing rural safety includes everything from having more visible Gardaí in the community to providing safe public spaces and amenities.

That's why we are bringing 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, through the roll-out of Local Community Safety Partnerships.

Three Local Community Safety Partnerships have been successfully piloted and each has published a local community safety plan, available on the respective local authority websites.

The purpose of the community safety plan is to allow each community to identity the safety concerns that are relevant to their locality and to agree on collective actions to solve those issues.

The national rollout of LCSPs will commence once the Policing, Security and Community Safety Act is commenced in the very near future.