Niamh Smyth
Question:1036. Deputy Niamh Smyth asked the Minister for Justice what plans are in place to build a whole-of-Government approach to deliver community safety. [56858/23]
View answerWednesday, 17 January 2024
Questions (1036)
Written answers
At the outset I would like to assure the Deputy that community safety is a top priority for me as Minister and this Government as a whole. The Department's community safety policy is about people being safe and, importantly, feeling safe in their own community. This whole of government Community Safety Strategy aims to address criminal behaviour, anti-social behaviour and other factors that affect people’s perceptions and experiences of safety.
This approach goes far beyond the traditional policing response and requires all relevant state bodies and voluntary organisations to work together in a joined-up way, in partnership with the local community, to prioritise and effectively address issues in their own area.
To help achieve this goal, three pilot Local Community Safety Partnerships (LCSPs) have been established; in Longford, Waterford and Dublin's North Inner City. The Partnerships will build upon and replace the existing Joint Policing Committees, bringing together Gardaí, local representatives, community organisations, schools, local authorities and State bodies such as the HSE and Tusla, to draft a Community Safety Plan tailored to the community's needs. No one knows better than those who live in a community what its needs are.
The Community Safety Plans agreed by each LCSP set out the actions identified by the community that need to be taken to improve their feeling of safety, and all of the relevant actors who are involved in delivering those actions are members of the LCSP and accountable to it. This model is to address one of the most significant gaps in the Joint Policing Committee (JPC) model identified by the Commission on the Future of Policing, where many of the issues identified by the JPC were outside the remit of An Garda Síochána or the local authority to resolve.
Separately the Anti-Social Behaviour Forum, chaired by Minister of State James Browne, aims to ensure people feel safe in their communities. The Forum is developing measures which will address the factors which give rise to such behaviour and its impact on community morale and quality of life.
Three subgroups of the Forum have been established to consider the specific issues of knife crime, the misuse of scramblers and quadbikes, and responses to Anti-Social Behaviour impacts on housing complexes managed by Approved Housing Bodies (AHBs).
Furthermore, the newly enacted Garda Síochána (Recording Devices) Act has reformed the existing Community CCTV scheme to allow community groups to request schemes in their area. My Department has administered grant-aid funding which supports groups wishing to establish CCTV schemes in their area since 2017. A further €1 million in funding is available for 2024.
The Deputy will also be aware that I have established a Community Safety and Innovation Fund (CSIF). This fund re-invests moneys seized by the Criminal Assets Bureau and An Garda Síochána as the proceeds of crime into innovative new projects to improve Community Safety. The CSIF was established in 2021 with initial funding of €2 million which has increased to €3 million in 2023 and under Budget 2024 has increased again to €3.75 million for this year.