Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 13 December 2022
489. Deputy Michael Moynihan asked the Minister for Justice the actions that the Garda Commissioner is taking generally to tackle crime and anti-social behaviour in urban and rural areas since 27 June 2020. [61773/22]
View answerI can assure the Deputy that the Government is committed to tackling crime and anti-social behaviour and I am very aware of the damaging effect it can have on communities, particularly disadvantaged areas.
It is vital that people are safe and feel safe and my Department is committed to ensuring An Garda Síochána have the resources they need to achieve this and to working across Government on a multi-agency approach to the underlying causes of crime.
The Government is committed to taking action to tackle anti-social behaviour. This includes:
- Giving An Garda Síochána additional tools and technology to fight crime in a digital era by introducing legislation to provide for body worn cameras, improved community CCTV schemes and expanded use of ANPR.
- Providing the Gardaí with new powers to seize and stop the illegal use of scramblers.
- Giving local people and local representatives a say in how to make their communities safer through the new Community Safety Partnerships.
- Providing a range of community sanctions to be used to address criminality, reduce reoffending and provide protection to the public.
- Introducing legislation to criminalise the grooming of children to commit criminal offences.
- In parallel, we will continue to roll out the community intervention programme “Greentown” which seeks to break the link between children who are engaged, or at risk of engaging, with a criminal gang.
In coordination with colleagues in the National Rural Safety Forum, Minister James Browne launched the Rural Safety Plan 2022-2024 in September 2022. The Plan’s vision is to ensure people and communities in rural Ireland feel safe and are safe in their homes, places of work, and their local environments.
As the Deputy may be aware, operational policing is a matter for the Garda Commissioner. However, I am assured that An Garda Síochána have a range of operations aimed at reducing crime, anti-social behaviour and improving community safety in both rural and urban areas.
Operation Tara, An Garda Síochána's enhanced national anti-drugs strategy, commenced in July last year and has a strong focus on tackling street-level drug dealing throughout rural and urban Ireland.
An Garda Síochána also have a number of operations currently in place to tackle crime and anti-social behaviour in Dublin. Operation Citizen is designed to provide reassurance to the public, visitors and businesses of Dublin City Centre that it is a safe place to visit, socialise and do business in through an enhanced police presence. I am informed that the Gardaí will continue the operation for a further period of twelve months to November 2023, after which time it will be further evaluated.
Operation Citizen is supported by other Garda Operations such as Operation Saul and Operation Spire. Operation Saul focuses on tackling anti-social behaviour on public transport networks in the Dublin Metropolitan Region.
This year's winter phase of Operation Thor was launched by Gardaí on 1 October. Operation Thor is designed to tackle burglaries and associated criminal activities, which often increase in the darker winter months, through targeted enforcement and crime prevention activity and information. Since its inception in 2015, Operation Thor has proved highly successful in tackling property-related crime and figures show that there has been a 36% reduction in the rate of such offences when compared to the pre-COVID-19 levels in 2019. The Operation's winter phase places particular emphasis on preventing any predicted surge in burglaries of residential properties during this period.
I can also assure the Deputy that crime trends are analysed on a monthly basis by An Garda Síochána at Divisional meetings. If trends are recognised, resources are dedicated to combat the identified issues. When specific crime-trends/pattern are identified, local management consider additional measures outside of normal policing responses, including location-specific patrols, intelligence-led operations, and searches and arrests to combat known individuals involved in such crimes.
