Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 17 February 2022
116. Deputy Paul Kehoe asked the Minister for Justice the funding streams available for community safety partnerships which are operating on a pilot basis at present; the funding streams available under consideration as this new approach is rolled out; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [8484/22]
View answerAs the Deputy will be aware, in April 2021 I secured government agreement to publish the general scheme of the Policing, Security and Community Safety Bill.
The Bill will provide for a key principle from the report of the Commission on the Future of Policing in Ireland, namely that preventing crime and harm and making our communities safer does not rest with An Garda Síochána and my Department alone. Rather, it will be best achieved as a ‘whole of government’ responsibility, with Departments and agencies responsible for health and social services, education authorities and local authorities, the Gardaí and the wider community working together.
The new Bill will achieve this by establishing innovative Local Community Safety Partnerships (LCSPs) to develop local safety plans, tailored to the priorities and needs identified by communities themselves. The LCSPs will replace and build upon the existing Joint Policing Committees and will provide a forum for State agencies and local community representatives to work together to act on community concerns.
Each Partnership will devise and oversee a Local Community Safety Plan, which will be informed by the community itself. Membership of the Partnerships will be broader than that of the existing JPCs and will include residents, community representatives (including youth, new communities and voluntary sector representation), business and education sector representation, relevant public services including the HSE, Tusla, An Garda Síochána, and local authorities as well as local councillors.
The Deputy will be aware that in November 2020, I announced the establishment of three Local Community Safety Partnerships on a pilot basis in the north inner city of Dublin, Waterford and Longford. The locations of the pilots, which will run for 24 months, were chosen based on a number of factors including population density, crime rates and deprivation. An independent Chairperson has been appointed to chair each Partnership pilot and I am deeply grateful to them for their public service.
As the pilots progress, they will be carefully evaluated and any necessary changes made to ensure the Partnerships work as effectively as possible for the communities involved. The pilots will inform the further development of the Policing, Security and Community Safety Bill, which will facilitate the rollout of Local Community Safety Partnerships in every local authority area.
The role of the LCSPs seeks to build on the good work done by Joint Policing Committees, but through an evolution and expansion of that structure. The LCSP will bring a broader focus to community safety issues, of which policing is but one factor, to enable communities to be safe and feel safe.
The three pilot LCSPs which are in place are funded by my Department through the Dormant Accounts Fund. In addition, in recognition of the scale and complexity of the work of the North Inner City Dublin Partnership, additional funding was made available from the North East Inner City (NEIC) initiative and from my Department.
As the Deputy may be aware, Budget 2022 provides for the establishment of the new Community Safety Innovation Fund. It is intended that this fund will support investment in innovative projects which will improve community safety. The fund, which is expected to grow in the coming years, will have an initial outlay in 2022 of €2m.
A call for funding proposals will issue shortly seeking applications for community safety projects and similar initiatives from bodies involved in community safety, including the Local Community Safety Partnerships. Applications will be assessed against stated 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. These criteria for allocating funding are now finalised with the fund due to be launched imminently.
The Local Community Safety Partnership pilots can also apply to any other funding streams identified as appropriate by them as they progress to implementation of their community safety plans.
Funding of the Local Community Safety Partnership model as it is rolled out on a national basis will be considered in line with the evaluation findings of the current Partnership pilots.
