Home > Dail Eireann debate. Leaders’ questions [Crime].

[Oireachtas] Dail Eireann debate. Leaders’ questions [Crime]. (03 Jul 2019)

External website: https://www.oireachtas.ie/en/debates/debate/dail/2...


Deputy Thomas P. Broughan: I wrote to the Taoiseach and other Ministers at the end of May following the appalling series of gun murders in Dublin Bay North and asking what steps the Government was going to take. I detailed the outstanding work of our schools and a wide range of Dublin Bay North community bodies in fields like employment and enterprise, childcare and elder care, youth work and sports and drug rehabilitation. At that time, many community leaders who admired the Mulvey report on the north inner city, Creating a Brighter Future, believed that a similar programme and implementation board should be established for Dublin Bay North. The north inner city initiative, which my colleague, Deputy Maureen O'Sullivan, was heavily involved in bringing forward, includes tackling crime and drugs; maximising education and training; integrating social services; and improving the physical landscape. There is a strong belief that we need a co-ordinated response involving all the existing local agencies, perhaps led by Northside Partnership, An Garda Síochána, Dublin City and Fingal County Councils and key Government Departments. It should be fully resourced to tackle all the issues which gave rise to the recent upsurge of crime.

 

Is there a case for a national programme of support? Seven or eight of the 40 constituencies are particularly badly affected; the Taoiseach's own constituency is one of them. Will he launch a new national strategy to support investment in all areas experiencing cumulative disadvantage, perhaps led by a high-level interdepartmental group? I know that Departments are engaged on their own in carrying out important work. The Department of Children and Youth Affairs is carrying out a major reform of youth services but funding in the sector for most of our constituency was less than €2 million in 2018. The Department of Rural and Community Development, whose Minister is seated beside the Taoiseach, runs the social inclusion and community activation programme, SICAP. However, as the Minister knows, the community enhancement programme only allocated €700,000 for Dublin. There is also continuing criticism of Seetec in respect of employment and youth employment.

 

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Item Type
Dail Debates
Publication Type
Irish-related
Drug Type
Substances (not alcohol/tobacco)
Intervention Type
Crime prevention, Policy
Date
3 July 2019
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