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]
Amharc ar fhreagraWednesday, 11 October 2023
Ceisteanna (5)
Freagraí ó Béal (6 píosaí cainte)
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.