Colm Brophy
Question:16. Deputy Colm Brophy asked the Minister for Justice the new measures that have been taken to ensure that communities are safe; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [25172/23]
View answerThursday, 25 May 2023
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Written answers
The Government is committed to building stronger, safer communities and a strengthened, well-resourced Garda Síochána is central to this policy. Since 2015, the Government has increased the budget of An Garda Síochána by approximately €672m, or 46%. Funding has been provided for up to 1,000 new Gardaí this year and we are seeing more Garda recruits enter Templemore every 11 weeks.
An Garda Síochána has a number of operations currently in place to tackle crime and anti-social behaviour throughout the country. Crime trends are analysed on a monthly basis by An Garda Síochána. When specific crime-trends/patterns 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.
There are also three Local Community Safety Partnerships (LCSPs) being piloted in North Inner City Dublin, Waterford and Longford at present. The aim of these LCSPs is to ensure that local communities and service providers work together to identify the actions needed specific to their local community to ensure it is a safe place to live, work in and visit, through the development of a community safety plan.
Both the Longford and Waterford LCSPs have published their respective plans and the North Inner City Dublin LCSP plan is almost finalised. The intention is to roll out LCSPs nationally through the enactment and commencement of the Policing, Security and Community Safety Bill, which is currently before the Houses.
The Rural Safety Plan 2022-2024, published by Minister of State James Browne, is the result of strong collaboration between all the relevant organisations and brings together the excellent work already underway in relation to rural safety.
The vision of the Rural Safety Plan is for people and communities in rural Ireland to feel safe and be safe in their homes, their places of work, and their local environments.
In 2015, An Garda Síochána launched the highly successful Operation Thor, a nationwide operation established to tackle burglary and prosecute offenders.
Operation Thor actively targets organised crime gangs and repeat offenders. Since its inception, burglary has been trending downwards with overall reported burglary in 2022 45% lower than pre-pandemic levels of 2019.
As the Deputy will also be aware, the new Garda Operating Model is being introduced, which will introduce major changes to the structures of An Garda Síochána by providing more front-line Gardaí, increased Garda visibility, and a wider range of policing services for people in their local area.