Written answers

Tuesday, 29 April 2025

Department of Justice and Equality

Local Community Safety Partnerships

Photo of Emer CurrieEmer Currie (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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1657. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality to provide details of all local community safety partnerships established to date; the names of the chairpersons of each; the dates of their first meetings; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [21109/25]

Photo of Jim O'CallaghanJim O'Callaghan (Dublin Bay South, Fianna Fail)
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A key principle 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.

The Policing, Security and Community Safety Act 2024, which I commenced in full on 2 April, provides for the establishment of this national infrastructure, central to which are Local Community Safety Partnerships (LCSPs) which will operate at each local authority level.

LCSPs 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.

Section 114 of the PSCS Act provides for the making of regulations to establish the Local Community Safety Partnerships. Department officials are working with the Office of Parliamentary Counsel with the aim of finalising these regulations in the coming weeks.

Once the regulations are in place, the roll out of the Partnerships nationally will be able to proceed.

A total of 36 Partnerships will be rolled out across each local authority administrative area. Each LCSP will be led by a Chair and supported by a coordinator and administrator. These full-time Coordinators and Administrators are resourced by my Department and employed by the relevant local authority. In preparation for the establishment of the Partnerships, local authorities have been recruiting these staff and a number have been appointed across the country.

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