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For Oral Answer on : 20/06/2024
Question Number(s): 7 Question Reference(s): 26441/24
Department: Justice
Asked by: David Stanton T.D.
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QUESTION
To ask the Minister for Justice when she expects that local community safety partnerships will be established across the country; and if she will make a statement on the matter.
REPLY
I thank the Deputy for his ongoing interest in this important initiative. The Government’s community safety plan is about people being safe and, just as importantly, feeling safe in their own communities. At the heart of this policy is the principle that every community has the right to be and feel safe in order to thrive and flourish.
Our approach to community safety recognises this can only be achieved on a shared, whole-of-Government, basis. I want to bring the relevant social service providers and the Gardaí together in collaboration with the communities we all serve, to focus on the concerns identified and prioritised by each local community itself.
The Local Community Safety Partnerships (LCSPs) are provided for in Part 3 of the Policing, Security and Community Safety Act 2024, which was signed into law by the President last February. It is my intention that the partnerships will be rolled out across Ireland later this year.
They will operate at local authority level and will replace Joint Policing Committees (JPCs). Each partnership will:
- Develop a community safety plan
- Talk to local communities about their safety concerns
- Drive community safety programmes responsive to local needs
- Foster opportunities for community participation in community safety activities.
The Partnerships will have a wider membership than JPCs including residents, local councillors, residents, community representatives (including representatives of young people, older people, new and minority communities), business and education representatives and a range of public services including the HSE, Tusla, An Garda Síochána and the local authority.
Pilot partnerships have been running in Longford, Waterford and Dublin’s North Inner City, and each has developed and published a local community safety plan, which are available on the local authority websites. The plans set out a number of agreed actions to be undertaken by the members of the partnerships to enhance community safety in that area. Each newly established LCSP will be required to develop and implement its own tailored community safety plan and will take a strategic approach to their work so that issues arising can be dealt with in a coordinated manner; addressed collectively by relevant service providers in partnership with the community.
I will also be establishing a National Office for Community Safety, which will have responsibility for delivering the objectives of the national strategy. The National Office will provide training, guidance and other support to the Local Community Safety Partnerships.
In preparation for the new Partnerships, an Expression of Interest process will be undertaken by each Local Authority to identify a suitable Chairperson for each Local Community Safety Partnership over the course of the summer. I am hopeful that many communities will start to see Local Community Safety Partnerships established in their areas over the coming months.
