The Government is making €10 million available for a policing surge in Dublin for the remainder of a year, in a bid to increase high visibility Garda patrols and shore up public perceptions of safety in the city.
The additional funding is intended to boost the Garda’s overtime budget and, according to the Department of Justice, would provide 240,000 extra Garda man hours, or 20,000 extra shifts, in the Dublin Metropolitan Region to year-end.
The package, due to be formally unveiled on Friday by Minister for Justice Helen McEntee, follows a period of pressure on the Government and Garda over perceived crime in Dublin following the attack on US tourist Stephen Termini (57) in the north inner city last week. Two teenage boys were yesterday arrested and charged in relation to that attack, following the charging of a 14-year-old boy last weekend.
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Ms McEntee said she had informed Garda Commissioner Drew Harris the €10 million fund was “exclusively” available for overtime in Dublin, with her plan seen as a direct response to the anger over the attack on Mr Termini on Talbot Street in north central Dublin, last week. He is from Buffalo, New York State, and remains in intensive care after suffering what are feared to be life-changing head injuries.
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“Dublin is a great city to live in, work in and visit and I am committed to increasing the number of gardaí on our streets to ensure people feel safe and to build stronger, safer communities,” said Ms McEntee, who was due to officiate today at a Garda passing out ceremony at the Garda College, Templemore, Co Tipperary.
[ McEntee under spotlight as street crime becomes the issueOpens in new window ]
Amid criticism that recruitment has been slow to resume after the college was closed during the pandemic, and over recruitment targets being missed this year, Ms McEntee said the process of hiring and training new gardaí was now gathering pace.
“We are on track to have 800 new recruits into the college this year,” she said. “Next week, our biggest class this year will start their training, with almost 180 new recruits entering Templemore.”
Serious attacks
She added that 87 new gardaí were also graduating today, while 135 recruits had entered the college in February and 154 in May, with 24 others having graduated last January.
In relation to Dublin’s north inner city, which has witnessed several serious attacks and the apparent growth of violent teenage street gangs, Ms McEntee said the new community safety partnership for the area would publish its safety plan. This would “bring together a range of agencies, groups and organisations to improve safety” while acknowledging community safety was “not an issue” for the force alone.
Traders on Talbot Street told The Irish Times this week they felt the area had become unsafe and called for an immediate policing response. Some believed gangs of teenagers, mostly boys, had taken a position of control on deserted streets during the lockdown periods. The business owners said the teenage gangs were now trying to maintain a dominant position in the area with violent attacks.
