Sinn Féin TD Mark Ward has called for a multi-agency response to tackling the issue of crime in Dublin, following the airing of a Prime Time segment about issues in Temple Bar.
“Last night’s RTÉ Prime Time programme on Temple Bar was a look at the underbelly of what citizens of Dublin have to face on a daily basis,” Ward said.
“Garda numbers have been decimated right across Dublin and they must be increased significantly to restore confidence and a feeling of safety for people living in Dublin.”
“While increasing Garda visibility will help it will not be the panacea to fix the problems that Prime-Time highlighted last night, including visible on-street drug dealing, drug using, homelessness intimidation and violence in Dublin’s Temple Bar.”
Ward said a “multi-agency approach” was the best way to tackle the issue, echoing calls by Social Democrats TD Gary Gannon who has also called for greater State intervention on tackling crime in Dublin.
“We need to, at the very least, fund our local drug and alcohol task forces so they can respond to issues in their community,” said Ward.
“As a former director of the Clondalkin Drug and Alcohol Task force I know how hamstrung these organisations are by lack of resources. We need task forces to be able to be proactive not just reactive.”
“The program highlighted that younger people are doing the majority of the drug dealing. We need a two-pronged approach to solve this.”
“Firstly, we need to go hard at unscrupulous older criminals who place the drugs in young people’s hands to begin with. Older criminals using children for criminal activities is not a new phenomenon in disadvantaged areas.”
“However, there has been a visible increase in our communities over the last couple of years,” Ward stated.
“Sinn Féin has proposed legislation to tackle this head-on.”
“If passed, this legislation will ensure that these criminals are held to account and cannot use our children to make massive profits for themselves. Anyone found guilty of this offence will also face a long prison sentence that fits the crime.”
The Dublin Mid-West TD said that community investment was key to tackling the crime issue, and says that investment would allow them to “build resilience to crime.”
“Sinn Féin has always advocated that any money returned to the Exchequer by CAB should be ring-fenced and put back into communities to tackle disadvantage, and to fund drug prevention, treatment, and rehabilitation services.”
“Such a fund could also be used for local sports clubs, youth clubs, employment centres and other valuable services in our communities.”
Ward said the fund would help communities impacted by organised crime “to be able to build resilience and stop the next generation of our young people becoming attracted to the criminal lifestyle.”
“The cycle of poverty and disadvantage leading to children being vulnerable to grooming by drug gangs is something we, as legislators, need to break.”