Written answers
Tuesday, 29 April 2025
Department of Justice and Equality
Local Community Safety Partnerships
Matt Carthy (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
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1617. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality the timeframe in which he intends to facilitate the establishment of community safety partnerships; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [20414/25]
Maeve O'Connell (Dublin Rathdown, Fine Gael)
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1634. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality when his Department will issue instructions to Dún Laoghaire Rathdown County Council regarding the commencement of local community safety partnerships. [20860/25]
Jim O'Callaghan (Dublin Bay South, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 1617 and 1634 together.
The Policing, Security and Community Safety Act 2024, which I commenced on Wednesday 2 April 2025, provides for the establishment of Local Community Safety Partnerships which will operate at each local authority level.
A key principle of the Report of the Commission on the Future of Policing in Ireland is that community safety requires multi-agency cooperation working in partnership with An Garda Síochána and crucially with communities themselves. The Commission's report recommended the establishment of national and local structures to bring together Departments and State agencies involved in harm prevention to promote community safety.
Local Community Safety Partnerships will replace and build upon the good work of the Joint Policing Committees, supplementing this by bringing together a broader range of relevant stakeholders including local councillors, An Garda Síochána, local residents, community representatives, business and education representatives, and a range of statutory agencies including the HSE, Tusla and each local authority.
Each newly established Local Community Safety Partnership 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.
In preparation for the national rollout, three Pilot Partnerships are ongoing in Waterford, Longford and Dublin North Inner City since 2021. Each pilot LCSP brought together community members, local representatives and statutory representatives and successfully produced a community safety plan with specific projects and actions to improve community Safety. The Pilot Partnerships were subject to independent monitoring and evaluation with baseline, interim and final reports published. The learning from these pilots is being used to inform the national roll out of LCSPs.
Regulations are currently being finalised, under section 114 of the Act, to enable the rollout of the Partnerships as soon as possible on a nationwide basis.
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