Jim O'Callaghan (Dublin Bay South, Fianna Fail)
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The Government is committed to ensuring that communities are safe. Tackling anti-social behaviour is an important part of that commitment.

The Government is taking a number of ongoing actions to ensure safer communities and public spaces, including:

• Getting more Gardaí on our streets through increased recruitment.
• Introducing Community Safety Partnerships around the country, to develop Community Safety Plans for every area.
• Continuing the expansion of youth justice and youth diversion measures.
• Piloting Garda body-cams in three locations (Dublin, Waterford, Limerick) with national roll-out to follow.
• Providing €1 million in 2025 for local authorities to apply for Community CCTV.

The Government continues to invest in the expansion of youth justice and youth diversion measures, including the full coverage of Youth Diversion Projects nationwide, a focus on early intervention and preventative work and proposals to develop diversion-based responses for young adults aged 18-24.

As of 31 July 2025, there are 731 members of An Garda Síochána based in the Dublin Metropolitan Region South Central Division, an increase of 16% since 2015. This figure includes 43 Community Gardaí.

I have been assured by the Garda Commissioner that the high visibility policing plan in place in Central Dublin will continue and the Commissioner has stated that this plan will be replicated in other areas of the DMR.

A long-term strategic approach to anti-social behaviour in communities assists in addressing potential problems before they arise, so An Garda Síochána work collaboratively with Local Authorities, community leaders and groups to find solutions to problems associated with anti-social behaviour.

Local Community Safety Partnerships (LCSP) represent a significant step towards a more collaborative, responsive, and locally driven model of public safety. They will play a major role in enhancing public safety alongside An Garda Síochána, residents, businesses and state agencies.

In June of this year, I signed regulations that provide for the establishment of Local Community Safety Partnerships in each local authority area across the country. I appointed the members of the first Local Community Safety Partnerships in recent weeks and aim to have all of the Partnerships up and running in the coming months.

My Department has also examined and introduced initiatives to tackle the misuse of scramblers and quadbikes, knife crime, responses to ASB impacts on housing complexes and the powers available to An Garda Síochána in relation to public order offences. New laws were introduced in 2024 which criminalise the grooming of children into crime. In addition, the Greentown project, which aims to break the link between children and the gangs that seek to recruit them, was extended in 2024 for a further 3 years.