Dara Calleary
Question:
263. Deputy Dara Calleary asked the Minister for Justice if community safety partnership funding can be used to fund the maintenance and expansion of an existing community CCTV scheme; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [35157/22]
View answer
It has not been possible to collate the information requested by the Deputy in the time allowed. I will write to the Deputy to provide this information as soon as it is available.
The following deferred reply was received under Standing Order 51
I refer to Parliamentary Question No. 263 of 30 June 2022 where you sought:
‘if community safety partnership funding can be used to fund the maintenance and expansion of an existing community CCTV scheme’
As you will recall, it was not possible to collate the information in the time available and I undertook to contact you again once the information was to hand.
As you may be aware, three Local Community Safety Partnerships are currently being piloted over 24 months in North Inner City Dublin, Waterford and Longford. These locations allow the proposed structure to be trialled in a high population density area, a medium population density area and a low population density area, with a regional distribution. The pilots are subject to independent evaluation, with learning outcomes taken into account in the drafting of the statutory framework for community safety and applied to the national roll out of similar partnerships in communities across the country.
Membership of these Local Community Safety Partnerships includes representatives from relevant public services including the HSE, Tusla, An Garda Síochána, local authorities and councillors as well as residents and community groups, representatives of youth, new communities and the voluntary, business and education sectors.
The pilots are each chaired by an independent chairperson and each pilot is also supported by a dedicated staff member - the local community safety coordinator - whose role is to support the Partnership, engage the residents in the community on safety issues and link them in with the work of the Partnership.
The three pilot LCSPs have received funding for the provision of administrative support to undertake their work 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.
Each Local Community Safety Partnership will develop a Local Community Safety Plan which will identify actions and the Department or Agency with responsibility for fulfilling these actions. Support to implement these actions will come from existing budget allocations.
Local Community Safety Partnerships may also apply for funding for additional community safety interventions through the new Community Safety Innovation Fund, the establishment of which is provided for in Budget 2022. It is intended that this fund will support investment in projects which will improve community safety. The fund, which is expected to grow in the coming years, has an initial outlay in 2022 of €2m.
The call for applications for 2022 closed on 08 June. Officials within my Department are currently considering these applications against the funding call's criteria.
Under the criteria of the fund, the applications for capital funding costs will only be considered if they are integral to a proposal itself and appropriately apportioned. Applications for capital costs alone are not eligible. The maintenance and expansion of an existing community CCTV scheme would therefore not be eligible. However, my Department also administers a Community Based CCTV Grand Aid Scheme. The scheme is intended to support local communities wishing to install and maintain CCTV security systems in their area, with the aim of increasing public safety and deterring illegal or anti-social behaviour.
More information can be found at: https://www.justice.ie/en/JELR/Pages/Community_based_CCTV_grant_aid_scheme_Information_and_Documentation
