Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 16 February 2023
18. Deputy Richard Bruton asked the Minister for Justice if he will indicate the resource deployment to counter community safety concerns in Dublin city centre; and if he has received a report of the impact of the initiative, in crime statistics and in feedback from organisations in the area. [6758/23]
View answerI can assure the Deputy that my Department is committed to ensuring that communities are safe and feel safe. To that end, the Government is investing unprecedented resources in An Garda Síochána to ensure that people feel Dublin City Centre is a safe place to live, work, visit, and do business in.
An Garda Síochána has a number of operations currently in place to tackle crime and anti-social behaviour in Dublin. This includes Operation Citizen, which aims to deliver an enhanced daily high-visibility policing presence in Dublin City Centre.
A new Garda Station will open in the coming weeks at 13A O'Connell Street and this will support the maintenance of a high visibility presence by Gardaí in the area. This will be in addition to the re-opening of nearby Fitzgibbon Street Garda station, which features a bespoke Crime Victim Support Suite, the first of its kind in Ireland.
As the Deputy may be aware, innovative Local Community Safety Partnerships are currently being piloted in three locations including, Dublin's North Inner City. These are designed to identify the issues that cause communities to feel unsafe, and to address them by providing a forum for residents and community representatives, along with the relevant State agencies to prioritise and address them.
A mid-term evaluation, covering the first 12 months of the pilots, is due to be submitted to my Department shortly and the Dublin LCSP community safety plan is expected to be published soon.
My Department has provided funding to the Dublin LCSP through the Community Safety Innovation Fund to develop a Community Safety Warden scheme which will promote a space for recreation in and around Wolfe Tone Park, and an extension to the scheme will include the O’Connell Street area during weekends.
The scheme will provide a visible presence that will act both as a deterrent to criminal and anti-social behaviour, and as reassurance to the community. The Dublin LCSP also continues to work collaboratively with key stakeholder agencies to address matters as they arise, and has four proactive sub groups focussed on specific themes.
