Pa Daly
Ceist:1. Deputy Pa Daly asked the Minister for Justice when the Garda Reserve regulations will be published; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [43775/23]
Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions
An Garda Síochána
When will the Garda Reserve regulations be published, and will the Minister make a statement in that regard?
The Government is committed to building stronger, safer communities. Strengthening An Garda Síochána is, of course, at the core of that. We will continue to provide An Garda Síochána with the resources it needs to ensure communities around Ireland are safe and feel safe. That is reflected in the unprecedented budget allocation of €2.3 billion to An Garda Síochána. That is an increase of 23% since 2020.
The Government will support An Garda Síochána to increase substantially the size of the Garda Reserve in the coming years. The Garda Reserve represents a real opportunity for anyone who wishes to support policing and give something back to his or her community. The Garda Reserve upholds and reinforces An Garda Síochána's strong community links. It provides the organisation with capacity to draw on additional resources to assist in essential policing functions. I acknowledge the important contribution made by all current and past members of the Garda Reserve, who selflessly volunteer their time for the benefit of each and every one of us.
As part of A Policing Service for the Future, the Government's plan to modernise and strengthen An Garda Síochána, the Commissioner developed the Garda Reserve strategy 2021-25. This provides a roadmap for the development of this important service.
The new recruitment campaign for the reserve, the first such campaign since 2017, will take place in early 2024. In preparation for the campaign, my Department is engaging with the Office of the Attorney General on progressing the Garda Reserve regulations. I expect to have the final version of those regulations later this week. Consultation will then take place with the Garda associations and the Policing Authority before the regulations are finalised. Obviously, I want to see that happen as quickly as possible to allow for the recruitment campaign to begin in early 2024.
These revisions include reducing prohibitions on the areas in which Garda Reserve members can serve. Additionally, the regulations will ensure a recruitment campaign is inclusive in order that we attract diverse and under-represented groups, including those from ethnic minorities, with the intention of clearly removing any perceived barriers.
During the summer, when we met with some senior gardaí and there was a big issue with presence of gardaí, not only on the streets of Dublin but around the country, one of the issues the senior gardaí brought up was the absence of these regulations. It is good to hear they will meet this week, but I ask the Minister to push ahead with the regulations as quickly as she possibly can to get more people on the streets. As she said, communities need to feel safe. I have noticed that, with larger events, the public order side of things is definitely improved when people see a large Garda presence on the streets. I agree with the Minister that recruitment is a way to reach out into newer communities. When ordinary gardaí, most importantly, are recruited, more effort should be made to reach into those new communities. It is also an opportunity to reach out to the new communities to get them into the mainstream organisation.
I absolutely believe we need to increase the numbers of reserves we have to support the work the Garda does and to allow for that increased presence and visibility on the ground as we continue to increase our normal Garda numbers as well. It has been a challenging 20 years or so since the reserve was established. There was a peak of about 1,400 reserves at a particular time, especially when there was a moratorium on the Garda College itself whereby no new recruits were coming out. When that opened up again, however, quite a significant number of reserves went through and were successful in becoming members of An Garda Síochána, which, of course, is very positive. Then the Commission on the Future of Policing in Ireland report in 2017 recommended that there not be any further recruitment campaigns until we had new regulations and a new strategy in place to try to remove some of the barriers that were there to reserve members working and supporting gardaí on the ground.
There has been, therefore, a body of work under way between the new strategy, which the Commissioner published in 2021, and now the new regulations, which will be published very soon to allow for a new campaign. When we opened up the college again only in the past year or two, we did not want the Public Appointments Service, PAS, process for the Garda recruitment campaign to compete with the reserve campaign. We needed to focus our priority on making sure we had as many members coming out of Templemore as possible. It is important, however, that we focus on the reserve at this stage to support it in the work it is doing.
I have just one question. How come this took so long? This issue was being flagged much earlier in the year. The Commission on the Future of Policing in Ireland said the Garda Reserve is a cost-effective way to provide surge capacity for policing special events and can provide policing experience for those who may be interested in joining the force but may be undecided or wary about it. In new communities, particularly those from eastern Europe, maybe, there is a suspicion and a fear - they do not have the same relationship with the police force that maybe we have in Ireland - but this can also be a breaking ground to allow those people in. Because of the resignations we see in the organisation, we must be careful that reservists do not replace fully trained gardaí - the Garda is a professional force, and gardaí are very well trained - and that they can work together in a sort of symbiosis. I urge the Minister to get this in as soon as possible.
I appreciate that it has taken a little time since the Commission on the Future of Policing in Ireland report, but in that time a new strategy has been published. We have also gone through a pandemic, which meant that any type of recruitment, be it in Templemore or here, was near impossible. We have a new regulation which, as I said, will be with me by the end of the week and which will allow engagement with the associations to make sure everybody can work as effectively as possible with one another and that the new regulations, working with the new strategy, allow for as diverse a group as possible. That will also help to create pathways for members who then want to become members of An Garda Síochána as well, as we have seen in the past, where it has worked very well.
A huge body of work has been done, and I expect that in the new year we will have a new recruitment campaign. We have not put a limit or a target on the number; we want as many as possible. That is my overall objective for the early new year.
Courts Staff
Aodhán Ó Ríordáin
Ceist:2. Deputy Aodhán Ó Ríordáin asked the Minister for Justice what progress has been made on resolving the pay restoration dispute with criminal barristers. [44134/23]
I want to give the Minister the opportunity to inform the House of any movement that was made yesterday in the budget regarding fees payable to criminal barristers in light of the ongoing dispute and the withdrawal of criminal barristers from criminal proceedings in the courts last Tuesday.
I am happy to be able to give an update on progress that has been made on this issue. I fully recognise the important role played by barristers and solicitors in the administration of criminal justice, not only in the context of working to defend those who are accused but also working with the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions in respect of prosecutions.
I take this opportunity to acknowledge the ongoing co-operation and flexibility shown by the legal profession in working with the Government and the courts to try to improve overall efficiencies and to create a more victim-centred system. This includes through a number of actions to give effect to Supporting a Victim’s Journey, the first plan I published, to support victims of domestic and sexual violence going through the courts, implementing the Family Justice Strategy and the overall modernisation programme in the courts. The criminal legal aid scheme, which has operated since the 1960s, is vital to our criminal justice system. It is administered by my Department which has the responsibility for making payments under the scheme.
I assure the Deputy that this issue has been a priority for me and my Department. I am pleased to inform him that an increase of 10% in fees to barristers and solicitors under the scheme was agreed in yesterday's budget. I want to make it clear that this 10% is the starting point in a much wider process. It is the first step on a pathway to further engagement with the profession and with the Department of Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform. In conjunction with the increase in fees, the intention is to try to build on the strengths of the criminal legal aid scheme while addressing any issues relating to how it is structured. Engagement will now begin with the legal profession for the purpose of working together to identify reforms to the fees, including automation of payments, which has been raised with me a number of times, and will support improved efficiency and governance in the administration of the scheme. This is with an intention of creating a pathway and ensuring there is fairness in the level of fees paid under the criminal legal aid scheme. These are necessary reforms and will help to further support the reforms being introduced in the Criminal Justice (Legal Aid) Bill 2023 more generally. I am pleased to be able to make these changes but I stress that this is the start of the process. I look forward to engaging with the associations.
If that had been flagged to the Bar Council two weeks ago, there would not have been the loss of an entire day of criminal cases. The Bar Council was not in any way aware of any move by the Government to do any sort of restoration of fees. If the Minister had said to the Bar Council two weeks ago what she has just said to me, its day of action would not have occurred, which was flagged on 12 July. As outlined in the budgetary submission from the Bar Council of Ireland, in September 2008, there was a non-payment of the 2.5% increase per the public service pay agreement; in March 2009, there was an 8% reduction in fee levels at the same time as the financial emergency measures in the public interest, FEMPI, cuts; in April 2010, there was an 8% reduction in fee levels at the same time as FEMPI cuts; and in October 2011, there was a reduction of 10%. They are the only people standing in a courtroom whose fees have not been restored. Will the Minister provide a timeline as to when she expects the full restoration of fees, as others have had?
I appreciate, depending on the type of work, that there were two 8% cuts and a cut of 10% each in the lower and higher courts. For somebody working in both courts, that was a much higher cut. If somebody is working in the lower courts, the restoration we introduced and allowed for in yesterday's budget goes nearly halfway to responding to those cuts. As I said, this is the start of a process. I want to make sure that a fair system is in place that allows for fair restoration for those who provide a very valuable service to the State. As the Deputy knows, I cannot confirm a budget before the budget happens. I made it very clear to the associations that this was a priority for me in the budget and that I was engaging with the Minister for Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform when I met them at various events they held and when speaking to individuals. I appreciate that they felt the need to continue with the protests. I wish it had not gotten to that point but I understand why it happened. The most important thing now is that the budget has passed, there is a 10% restoration and, most importantly, beyond that, I will engage with them to see what more we can do, looking at the overall structure.
It is not good enough. The Minister could have prevented it from taking place. In July 2018, a detailed review process led by the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions stated:
That all parties are in unequivocal agreement that the ongoing flexibility being delivered by prosecuting counsel, documented above, is considered comparable to the flexibility delivered by other groups to justify the reversing of cuts imposed during the financial emergency.
That was five years ago. It was written in conjunction with the Minister's Department and sanctioned by the Department of Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform. The point is that this was well flagged five years ago, flagged on 12 July and still took place on 3 October, causing untold disruption to our court services on that day and the delaying of very serious court cases. We know about a sexual assault case that could not go ahead last May because of the lack of a senior counsel; this was flagged. This should have been communicated to the Bar Council. We did not need to have that day of action last Tuesday. I ask again for a timeline, please, for the full restoration of fees.
I agree this has been going on for too long, which is why I was really pleased to be able to make progress for the first time in this year's budget just yesterday. It is not possible for me to confirm to any organisation what may or may not be in the budget. What I can do, and certainly did do in this instance, was to reassure people, insofar as I possibly could, that this was a priority and something I was working on and that I was actively engaged on with my colleague in the Department of Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform. He made it clear that he supported and wanted to work with barristers and solicitors working in the criminal legal aid profession. It is important that young, new barristers and solicitors take this path. I know this has been a disincentive for many people, which is why it is just not about the restoration of fees but also making sure the structure is correct and the way in which they are paid and the system itself is fair, quick and efficient, that people are not left waiting and they know there will be decent pay at the end of the day. When one looks at the overall figures, a higher percentage of those engaging in criminal legal aid cases probably take in less than €50,000. I acknowledge that this has been an ongoing problem, which is why I am pleased that we have made progress. I stress that this is the start of a process and I will be engaging immediately with the associations to make further progress as quickly as possible with the timeline I gave the Deputy.
An Garda Síochána
Pa Daly
Ceist:3. Deputy Pa Daly asked the Minister for Justice to make a statement on the implementation of policing reform in the area of non-core duties. [43776/23]
This question gets down to police presence on the streets. Gardaí tell me that a lot of their time is taken up, apart from paperwork and inputting, doing non-police work. Five years ago, the Commission for the Future of Policing in Ireland suggested a lot of reform in non-core duties and taking gardaí of all levels away from non-core duties. What steps are being taken to implement that report?
I agree with the Deputy and all members of An Garda Síochána who say they do work others could be doing and could free up valuable police time and make sure we have as many visible gardaí out on the beat as possible. We are committed to doing that. Strengthening An Garda Síochána is at the core of everything we are focused on at the moment. When it comes to this budget, we will continue to provide them with the resources they need. As I said earlier, there is a €2.31 billion budget for An Garda Síochána, up 23% since 2020. We have also allowed for a 66% increase in the training allowance, which will rise to €305 this week. This is progress on recruitment, coupled with an increase in civilianisation. About 900 Garda members have been freed up for front-line policing duties since 2015. With the allocations in this year's budget, I expect that number to increase again. I assure the Deputy, in terms of core duties, that completing the implementation of the report of the Commission for the Future of Policing in Ireland is a priority for me. Recommendation No. 20 of the commission's report relates to the release of Garda members from non-core duties. Work is ongoing in my Department to progress this recommendation. There are a number of different areas on which we are focused. In particular, the report recommended that all immigration duties carried out by An Gardaí Síochána be transferred to civilian responsibility. We have seen how well that has worked in Dublin Airport with the border management unit now effectively taking on that role but working very closely with members of An Garda Síochána, who are still based in the airport. We have engaged with An Garda Síochána on the overall scope of immigration operations to transfer to the Department and work is currently underway to develop a roadmap to see how that would progress. There is Cork immigration, Shannon Airport and a number of other areas in that regard in which progress can be made. This will involve the transfer of work relating to the nationwide registration of residence permission and the renewal of such permissions from An Garda Síochána to the immigration function of my Department. A number of additional activities currently undertaken by gardaí at Dublin Airport have been identified to be transferred to civilian resources and consideration will be given to how immigration functions are undertaken at the other ports and airports I mentioned. I will come back to the Deputy with some of the other issues.
I have a few points in relation to what the Minister said. I acknowledge the large amount in the budget and that the training allowance will be increased, which we called for. I also acknowledge that many civilian staff have been hired but the Department previously stated that, for every one civilian staff member hired, one garda could be deployed back to front-line duties. That has not happened. I know there has been some movement in relation to immigration but there is much more that can be done and there are many more recommendations in the Commission for the Future of Policing in Ireland report.
Sinn Féin made a submission before the report was published which stated that, to the greatest extent possible, all duties which do not require a garda with full police training should be allocated to an appropriately trained civilian. That was reflected in the report, which contains a chapter on non-core duties. Some of the other things, apart from immigration, which were mentioned were security at courts, transporting remand prisoners, serving summonses, prosecutions, presenting in District Courts, attending minor road traffic accidents, attending the coroner's court and safeguarding examination papers. They are a lot of the changes that could get more gardaí back onto the streets and make people in communities feel safer.
While I have outlined the work that is under way in terms of immigration, courts security and serving summonses, as the Deputy mentioned, a high-level group considered the recommendations relating to prosecutions. A report has been submitted which will shortly be brought to Government. A group chaired by my Department, comprising the Courts Service and An Garda Síochána, has also agreed on reforms to courts security, including the transfer of jury-minding responsibilities to the Courts Service. The group has also begun consideration of the serving of summonses.
Regarding the recommendation on prison escorts, the Civil Law and Criminal Law (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2020 made provisions for remote hearings and the use of electronic means during criminal proceedings. Following this, the use of video link for court appearances by persons in prison increased significantly, with court appearances carried out via video link since early 2021, totalling in excess of 5,000 appearances, which obviously resulted in substantially fewer Garda resources being used for prisoner escorts. The Act also removed the requirement for Garda members to transport prisoners to another prison for the execution of a committal warrant in certain circumstances and, again, that has reduced the need for prison escorts.
Finally, regarding the coroner's court, my Department will engage in a wider consultation piece on coronial reform. That will start later this month and will form part of the overall reform piece.
The report, which is five years old, was quite unequivocal and stated the absolute priority should be that front-line district police should have the resources to perform their core community safety duties. That was a constant theme in the report. The urgency of the situation has not been addressed. I acknowledge what the Minister has said, but when will the court presenting changes be implemented? Will there be extra staff in State solicitors' offices to perform these duties? When will gardaí be taken from juries?
There are a lot of other ongoing duties currently undertaken by gardaí, and it is fair to say that reforms have been very slow since the report was published five years ago. This is all the more urgent given the crisis of morale in An Garda Síochána. The sense of job satisfaction has plummeted. Gardaí feel very stretched. Anything that can be done to implement the reforms that are gathering dust and get more police back on the street needs to be done urgently at this stage.
I reassure the Deputy that there is an absolute commitment to bring about these changes. There are a number of different strands to the process. In terms of the changes to immigration, we have a pathway that is being worked on to expand on the changes seen in Dublin Airport which have been very successful.
A body of work is being done on prosecutions, which the Deputy mentioned. I intend to bring the report of the group and proposed next steps to Government. A high-level group is examining the role of An Garda Síochána in prosecutions, as the Deputy said, something that was recommended in the report of the Commission on the Future of Policing in Ireland.
The 2020 Act has already allowed us to see changes in the number of gardaí required for various prison transfers. On top of that, a body of work has been done between An Garda Síochána and the Courts Service to identify where, on any given day, there might be 20 members of the force acting as security rather than dealing with cases before the courts. Freeing those numbers would be very positive and allow for a much greater Garda presence on the ground. Various strands of work are all coming to a point where we will start to see greater progress and can start to implement these changes. As always, it has taken a bit longer than we would like. Covid has interrupted a lot of work that has been done, but there is an impetus here and this is a priority for me.
Public Inquiries
Catherine Murphy
Ceist:4. Deputy Catherine Murphy asked the Minister for Justice if she will establish a statutory inquiry, compliant with international human rights standards, into the arrest, detention, interrogation, prosecution and conviction of persons (details supplied). [44109/23]
This question seeks to establish whether the Minister intends to set up a statutory inquiry into the arrest, detention, interrogation, prosecution and conviction of Michael Barrett, Osgur Breatnach, John Fitzpatrick, Nicky Kelly, Brian McNally and the late Mick Plunkett in the context of the Sallins train robbery in 1976.
I thank the Deputy. As she has alluded to, she raises a question relating to an investigation of nearly 50 years ago which culminated in the court’s overturning the convictions of two people in 1980, a pardon for one individual in 1992 and the payment of financial settlements. There is no doubt this case, and others of the time that we know of, cast a shadow on the trust we place in our criminal justice and policing systems to ensure justice is done in a fair way. It is important to note, however, that this happened several decades ago. The safeguards which were available at that time to those who were the subject of investigation were very different from those now in place. In fact, they were not in place at the time and this led to many challenges.
Following on from the work of the Ó Briain and Martin committees, the Criminal Justice Act 1984, which regulates the treatment of persons in custody, the Garda Síochána (Complaints) Act 1986 and the Criminal Procedure Act 1993, containing a new appeal procedure based on miscarriage of justice, were introduced. The available safeguards have been further and significantly strengthened in the years that followed.
Ireland now has an increasingly robust system of Garda oversight in place and the Government continues to develop and update our oversight processes. One example of this is the significant work undertaken by my Department to develop the proposals contained in the Policing, Security and Community Safety Bill currently before the Houses. As I have said previously, there is always a threshold for holding a public inquiry and I am not aware of any matter of urgent public interest which would warrant reopening the matter, given that the courts have adjudicated on the cases and, in some instances, a presidential pardon was granted.
I am sure the Minister has received the civil society petition that was prepared by four leading human rights organisations, namely, the Irish Council for Civil Liberties, ICCL, the Committee on the Administration of Justice, the Pat Finucane Centre and Fair Trials. It was delivered to the Minister in September. Has she had the opportunity to go through that? It is a well-argued petition on why an inquiry is necessary. What happened to these five individuals changed their lives irrevocably. There has never been a public inquiry into what happened. I do not know if the Minister watched a television series on RTÉ this year. The programme on the train robbery was compelling and brought the case back to the fore, in particular the appalling treatment meted out to those prosecuted, including evidence that was perjured. Has the Minister completely dismissed the prospect of an inquiry?
The ICCL petition was received by me and my Department. A response will issue in due course. It is something we are going through at the moment. Once the matter has been fully considered and we have gone through the report completely, we will respond.
We have to consider every incident. In the short time I have been in the Department, there have been calls for various types of public inquiry. We always have to consider the threshold of whether there is a public interest. I do not for a second seek to diminish the impact the actions of a small number of people have had on certain individuals or refuse to acknowledge the serious impact those actions have had on people's lives. The fact the criminal justice system has responded in an efficient way is important. Convictions have been overturned and there have been presidential pardons and the payment of financial settlements.
Most important, the systems and structures have changed. People want to know that that type of scenario can never happen again and the correct oversight mechanisms are in place to support someone who is being questioned by the Garda and make sure there is an appeals system and people feel they have recourse if they feel they are being treated unfairly. Significant changes have been made over the years to make sure that is the case.
In terms of a public inquiry, we need to consider what public interest is being served by opening up an inquiry. In this instance, I am not sure such a threshold has been met. Obviously, we will explore and engage with the ICCL on the petition it has brought to me. However, at this time I do not believe the threshold has been met.
I presume the Minister will read the petition. Will she engage with the ICCL in the near future?
There never was a State apology to these six individuals. There is something of an inconsistency in correctly having an issue with what transpired in the UK in relation to legacy cases, given the approach to this kind of case. It is very difficult to square that circle when one sees something like this. Could the Minister give me some indication of when she will read this petition and engage with those groups who have put this very well-argued petition together?
I have already seen the report. I am working with my Department to respond to the ICCL in as quick a way as possible. I know that every case is different. I mentioned that in this case the convictions were overturned and there were pardons and financial settlements. There have been apologies in other different cases. Every individual case is different. I do not for a second condone some of the behaviour by particular individuals who cast a very negative light on what is a wonderful Garda force. An Garda Síochána has wonderful people working in it.
Public inquiries often go on for years, cost a huge amount of money, at the end of the day do not produce any more evidence than we already know, and do not allow us to actually change things for the better in any greater way. I am confident that changes which have been made in recent years - even the changes we are making through the Policing, Security and Community Safety Bill, which is going through the Houses at the moment - will allow for even greater oversight and ways in which we can ensure these types of practices never happen again. While that is the most important thing here, we must also acknowledge the hurt that was caused and the difficulties which arose for individuals. That has been acknowledged in the outcomes, not just in this case but in other areas which are also ongoing. I will respond to the ICCL as quickly as possible.
Community Development Projects
Gino Kenny
Ceist:5. Deputy Gino Kenny asked the Minister for Justice if the community safety innovation fund will be extended next year; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [43854/23]
What future does the community safety innovation fund have? I understand it is in its infancy but could the Minister lay out its future over the next two to three years?
My top priority as Minister for Justice is to build stronger, safer communities. I want to ensure that people are and feel safe in their communities, and that they contribute to feeling safe in their communities, because it is the people who live in an area who know best what it is their community needs. I am delighted to confirm that under budget 2024, €7.9 million will be allocated towards community safety initiatives, including €3.75m for the community safety innovation fund, which is an increase on last year of almost €1 million. This funding recognises again that local communities need to be involved in designing and prioritising the appropriate types of solutions in their own areas.
I established the community safety innovation fund in April 2021 with the then Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform to allow the proceeds of crime - essentially, money which has been taken off criminals - to be put directly into the communities they are impacting. The fund reflects the successes of An Garda Síochána and the Criminal Assets Bureau, CAB, in identifying and seizing these gains of criminals. CAB is working closely with the Garda and all enforcement agencies to target these types of assets to ensure we do even more in that regard. Some 22 community projects across the country benefited from grants in the first round, ranging from €5,000 to €150,000 in last year's allocation. These include projects which are not in but are near to the Deputy's area. The fund is providing assistance of €135,000 to the Walkinstown-Greenhills resource centre, which is developing supportive interventions for young people at risk from drug use, and €136,000 for the That's a Wrap project, run by FamiliBase, which is supporting marginalised young people through an assertive outreach programme in Ballyfermot and in the wider surrounding areas.
We opened up another call for funding in March 2023. I hope to be in a position in the very near future to be able to announce that funding. It was open for eight weeks. We need to do this every year because this is a fund which will continue to expand and grow, and will very much support the community safety partnerships which will be stood up next year to replace the joint policing committees. We need to ensure that people understand the fund and are putting in projects which are new and innovative. Above all, we need to ensure we can see these projects expand. If they are working in one place and can be replicated in other areas, that is very much part of what we want to happen here. Applications for the 2023 fund are currently being considered by officials in my Department. I look forward to seeing the projects that will emerge from this new round of funding in the near future. I expect to be in a position to make an announcement on this in the coming weeks. I am pleased to say it is anticipated that another round of funding will open for applicants in 2024.
It is very welcome that there is extra funding for this initiative. My only criticism is that it is not targeted as it should be. In areas which have been subjected to criminal activity by these gangs, one will find areas of deprivation where this manifests itself. The funding should be a bit more targeted with respect to these particular areas. It is welcome, however. It raises the question of why these initiatives and projects are not funded directly by central government rather than by the proceeds of crime. I ask the Minister of Justice to comment on this particular question.
Money from the proceeds of crime comes directly back into the Exchequer. A decision was then taken that this money should be ring-fenced, spent and put directly back into communities. We have increased it year on year. It started at €2 million, it went up to €3 million and it is now almost €4 million. My anticipation and hope is that it will continue to grow. With any new funding stream, particularly where we are looking for new and innovative projects, there is a body of work we need to continue to do to ensure that people know about it, that we highlight it and that we engage with communities to ensure they put in projects which will fit the criteria here. I do not want to replicate funding streams coming from other Departments. We have seen in some of the applications that people who may not have not received funding for a particular project or for a worker from other Departments have decided to put in an application under this fund. Obviously, that is not what we are talking about here. We want to look at new and innovative solutions to community safety.
I mentioned earlier another fantastic project which focuses specifically on domestic violence in rural areas. It allows domestic violence services to work with other arms of the law and with domestic violence services locally, to link in with the gardaí, to create a structure which does not already exist and to reach out to people in rural communities. If we can get that replicated across the country, would it not be fantastic to see how one person's solution here could help many other people? There is a body of work to do to ensure that people know about this, that we continue to increase the funding and that we can expand on the various projects which are successful.
A somewhat bigger question, which I am unsure if the Minister will be able to answer, is how to undercut criminal gangs in this country. Such gangs are largely profiteering and generating money through the drug industry. That is essentially what they are doing. Robbing banks is yesterday's kind of activity for criminal gangs. These gangs generate enormous amounts of money through the drugs industry. It is ironic that we have legislation in this State called the Misuse of Drugs Act. The drugs these gangs deal in are essentially controlled drugs but we do not have any control at all. These are controlled drugs and are essentially controlled by criminal gangs. We need to have a long discussion - this is obviously going through the Citizens' Assembly on Drugs Use at the moment - on how to undercut the drug industry with a view to regulating certain drugs and diverting any revenues which are generated away from the black market into a regulated system. Otherwise, we will have a perpetual cycle of criminality. Generally, this market is generated and run for the profits of drugs. We cannot get away from that and we need to undercut it.
It is hard to respond in a minute. It is fair to say that there are many reasons people might feel safe or unsafe in their communities. It might be that a person is a victim of domestic abuse and is simply not safe in his or her own home. It might be that an elderly person does not feel safe due to antisocial behaviour. Another reason might be the impact of criminal organisations and organised crime groups, many of which are connected to drug dealing. The impact that has on communities is completely devastating and there are a number of ways in which we can respond. We need to ensure we have a physical presence, together with specialist teams in communities that are able to respond and support communities on the ground, to deal with taking major criminals out of the work they are doing. We need to ensure we are able to seize the significant amount of drugs coming into our communities. The topic the Deputy has mentioned is up for discussion at the moment. The citizens' assembly is concluding its work of looking at possible other ways we can respond to the issue of drug use or misuse and addiction, in particular. There are many ways in which we can support communities in making people feel safe. It is about not focusing on one particular approach. The work of CAB in taking away the ill-gotten gains we are talking about and reinvesting them into communities is completely vital. That is why in this year's budget we allocated additional specific funding to CAB to support it in the work it does in keeping communities safe.