Maximum Community Safety Innovation Fund grant awarded to #NorthInnerCity Community Safety Partnership

Earlier, I joined local T.D. and Finance Minister Paschal Donohoe and the Minister for Justice, Helen McEntee T.D. in announcing the recipients of the grants through the newly created Community Safety Innovation Fund.

The Community Safety Innovation Fund was established in April 2021 and €2 million was allocated to it under Budget 2022 – and this will increase to €3 million next year under Budget 2023.

The announcement today on James Joyce Street marks the first round of grants given out since Minister McEntee established the Community Safety Innovation Fund – which reinvests the proceeds of crime seized by the Criminal Assets Bureau in local projects to build stronger, safer communities. 22 projects nationwide are in receipt of these grants, including the #NorthInnerCity Local Community Safety Partnership.

The maximum possible grant available under the Community Safety Innovation Fund is €150,000 and that’s the amount allocated to the #NorthInnerCity Local Community Safety Partnership to support the creation of a Community Safety Warden pilot initiative for Wolfe Tone Park. This initiative will see local community safety wardens employed to:

• promote a pro-social space for the recreation in Wolfe Tone Park and its surrounding environs;
• provide a visible presence within the community that will act both as a deterrent to anti-social behaviour and reassure elderly and vulnerable members of the community; and
• act as clear channels to signpost the vulnerable away from harmful activity.

The application also includes provisions for pro-social events and activities in the area. This application draws inspiration from a model currently employed by Policing and Community Safety Partnerships in Northern Ireland and seeks to see how effective such a model would operate in the Republic of Ireland.

Early in 2023, the Local Community Safety Partnership will publish a draft Community Safety Plan where the views of #NorthInnerCity residents and businesses will be sought. I’ll make sure to share those details with you and gauge your views on that draft plan.

If you would like more information on the #NorthInnerCity Local Community Safety Partnership, please log onto https://www.neic.ie/local-community-safety-partnership.