'It is about people feeling safe in their own community': New body to steer community safety initiatives

Justice Minister Helen McEntee: 'Nobody knows a community better than the people who live and work there, and the new Local Community Safety Partnerships have been designed with this in mind.' Picture: Damien Storan.

A new national office is being set up to steer community safety initiatives across the country.

The office has been launched by the Department of Justice and a new director, Grainne Berrill, has been designated for the project.

Three Local Community Safety Partnerships are currently being piloted in Waterford, Longford and Dublin, with a view to rolling out further partnerships across the country before the end of the year.

It “will bring together the local community and local service providers under an independent chair to develop a community safety plan for their local area and more importantly, to work in partnership with their local area”, according to the Department of Justice.

When fully established, the national office will provide training and other support to the local community safety partnerships across the country.

The new structure is being brought in under the Policing, Security and Community Safety Act 2024 which was enacted in February to replace the Garda Síochána Act 2005. It will be commenced later this year. 

The legislation is a major reform legislative vehicle, which aims to implement recommendations made by the Commission on the Future of Policing in Ireland in September 2018.

Justice Minister Helen McEntee said: “It is about people being safe and feeling safe in their own community. Nobody knows a community better than the people who live and work there, and the new Local Community Safety Partnerships have been designed with this in mind.” 

The new National Office for Community Safety will be overseen by a cross-Government community safety steering group to be established by the minister for justice, which will, in turn, report to a Cabinet committee.

According to the Department of Justice, “the intent behind the new legislation is to redefine the functions of An Garda Síochána, including placing an obligation on relevant departments, State agencies and local authorities to cooperate with An Garda Síochána and each other in relation to community safety matters”.