Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 19 October 2021
693. Deputy Pa Daly asked the Minister for Justice the details of the new community safety fund as outlined in budget 2022 measures; and the existing initiatives that are to be incorporated into the fund or discontinued due to its establishment. [50703/21]
View answerAs the Deputy will be aware, Budget 2022 provides for the establishment of the new Community Safety Innovation Fund. This fund will reflect the success of the Criminal Assets Bureau and other agencies by using money seized from the proceeds of crime to support investment in community safety projects. The fund, which is expected to grow in the coming years, will have an initial outlay of €2m.
Funding will be allocated via a process similar to that successfully used at present to distribute Dormant Accounts Funding. A call for funding proposals will issue seeking applications for community safety projects and similar initiatives from bodies involved in community safety, such as the new Local Community Safety Partnerships – pilots of which are in place in North Inner City Dublin, Waterford and Longford – and the Drogheda Implementation Board, as well as similar entities nationwide.
Applications will be assessed against criteria outlined in the call for proposals to ensure funding is allocated to encourage the development of innovative ways in which to improve community safety from those people who understand local community safety needs best and to avoid duplication with other services. These criteria for allocating funding are currently under consideration.
The fund will be open to bodies involved in community safety and will support them in addressing local needs and opportunities for innovation not provided for in other funds managed by Departments and agencies. This will ensure that the fund supports initiatives from communities themselves and does not create duplication with other schemes and funds.
No existing initiative will be discontinued due to the fund's establishment.
As the Deputy will be aware, all monies seized by CAB are remitted to the Central Fund of the Exchequer after the appropriate statutory time frame under the Proceeds of Crime Act; currently seven years must elapse from date of seizure to remittance to the Exchequer.
Responsibility for the identification, tracing, freezing, and ultimate confiscation of criminal assets rests with a number of different agencies and statutory bodies. These include An Garda Síochána, the Criminal Assets Bureau, as well as Revenue, the Chief State Solicitors Office, the Director of Public Prosecutions and the Courts.
