Jim O'Callaghan (Dublin Bay South, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context

Building safe and secure communities across the country by investing in An Garda Síochána is a top priority for this Government. I want every part of the country to be a safe space for people to live and work in, and our major cities are no exception to this.

While Ireland is generally a safe community, with relatively low crime rates, some communities may experience a different reality.

The Government are taking a number of ongoing actions to tackle crime and anti-social behaviour, including:

• Getting more Gardaí on our streets through increased recruitment;
• Introduction of Local Community Safety Partnerships around the country, to develop Community Safety Plans for every area.
• Continued expansion of youth justice and youth diversion measures.
• Garda body-cams in three pilot locations (Dublin, Waterford, Limerick) with national roll-out to follow
• €1 million provided in 2025 for local authorities to apply for Community CCTV
• Plans to ban face coverings at protests
• Passing legislation which will make it easier for Gardaí to apply for ASBOs.

My first priority is to get more Gardaí on our streets through increased recruitment and appropriate civilianisation where possible. The Programme for Government commits to recruiting at least 5,000 Gardaí in the coming five years. As we strengthen An Garda Síochána, we will see more Gardaí visible in our communities tackling and preventing crime.

An Garda Síochána have a range of targeted operations in place to deal with crime and anti-social behaviour in our cities, including:

• Operation Táirge, which is targeting Retail Theft,
• Operation Tara tackling street level drug-dealing, and
• Operation Saul which is a policing plan for providing a safe environment for public transport services in the Dublin area.

An Garda Síochána can also issue Anti-Social Behaviour Warnings to adults and children and can apply for Anti-Social Behaviour Orders (ASBO) before the District Court. The Programme for Government contains a commitment to enact legislation to combat anti-social behaviour, including enhancing the use of Anti-Social Behaviour Warnings (ASBWs) and Anti-Social Behaviour Orders (ASBOs).

More broadly, it is absolutely my intention that the Local Community Safety Partnerships will be established as soon as practicable. The Partnerships are the cornerstone of our policy on community safety and so it is vital we get them up and running so that they can begin work on the development of a community safety plan for their respective areas.

Last week I signed the regulations for the safety partnerships and these came into operation on Monday, 30 June. This now paves the way for a total of 36 partnerships to be established across the country with partnerships in each local authority administrative area.

The regulations outline very clearly how the safety partnerships will operate in practice and will ensure that each partnership operates with transparency, strategic focus, and strong local engagement.

Local Community Safety Partnerships (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. This will include 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.

I believe they will be very effective in seeking to achieve what is set out in the legislation, namely to have a broader representation within the partnerships so the issues affecting local communities, not just in respect of policing but also in community safety, can be dealt with in one forum within the local authority area.