Tackling #antisocial behaviour in Dublin City

Over the course of the last number of months, I and my Fine Gael City Council colleagues have been inundated with calls, emails and other communication from constituents and Dubliners about the increasing scourge of anti-social and criminal behaviour occurring across the city.

As a member of the Council’s City Joint Policing Committee, I raised my concerns directly with the Assistant Garda Commissioner for Dublin in early July. In that meeting, I expressed the view that I did not believe that there was a sufficiently, high visibility policing taking place in the city centre. In response, the Assistant Garda Commissioner advised that she was “very satisfied with the policing response in the city.”

We have seen too many assaults, acts of intimidation of vulnerable Dubliners, not just in the City Centre but right across our city. That is why in our request of the Lord Mayor and Councillors to agree to an emergency debate, we want the Garda Commissioner to ramp up their City Centre initiatives to tackle anti-social behaviour in all its guises.

So much work has been undertaken in recent months to begin the process to revitalise and re-energise our city, after the worst of Covid, we cannot allow that progress to be lost as a result of lack of visible policing. Dubliners will not tolerate, nor will they accept a situation where anti-social and criminal behaviour is the norm.

Motion seeking an Emergency Debate to September 2021 City Council meeting from Fine Gael City Councillors:

Dublin City Council:

• In noting the growing scourge of anti-social & criminal behaviour in Dublin city and the increasing public concern arising from the prevalence of such anti – social behaviour,
• Requests An Garda Síochána to ramp up their two ongoing Dublin operations “specifically focused on addressing anti-social behaviour”, Operation Spire in the north inner city and Operation Pier in the south city,
• Asks the Garda Commissioner to relieve more Gardai from office / desk-based duties, so as to ensure adequate resources and personnel are available for on the ground community policing,
• Urges the Minister for Justice to ensure that the recently published Youth Justice Strategy 2021-2027 enables the strengthening of services through the existing network of 15 Garda Youth Diversion Projects across the city.
• Calls upon the Government, by the end of its term of office, have in place a strategy to increase the number of Garda members to, at least, 16,500 in addition to the existing targets for Reserve members and Civilian support staff.