Nuair a bhí an tAire ina Aire Dlí agus Cirt, dúirt sí go raibh Baile Átha Cliath sábháilte. Bhí sé seo in ainneoin go bhféadfadh duine ar bith a shúil na sráide tríd lár na cathrach a rá léi nach raibh an chathair sábháilte agus go bhféadfaí siúl tríd na príomhshráideanna gan garda a fheiceáil ar chor ar bith. Anois, díreach cúpla mí i ndiaidh í sin a rá, feicimid go bhfuil an tAire úr á rá go bhfuil ceantair de Bhaile Átha Cliath nach bhfuil sábháilte. Níor inis sé dúinn cén ceantair nach bhfuil sábháilte agus céard a bhfuil sé chun a dhéanamh fúthu, ach ba mhaith liom tuairimí an Aire air seo. Everyone has a right to feel safe. Everyone has a right to walk the street of their city or town without feeling the need to look over their shoulders. The sad reality is that this sense of safety has been robbed from so many. There is a particular problem here in our capital city of Dublin. The root of the problem is the failure of successive Fianna Fáil- and Fine Gael-led governments to recruit the number of gardaí that are needed. The collapse in the public's sense of safety here in Dublin and in many other places too is very real. It is because we simply do not have enough gardaí on the ground and on the beat visibly policing the streets and in our communities and keeping people safe. That is the reality no matter how much the Government wishes to stick its head in the sand. When the Minister, Deputy Helen McEntee, was the Minister for Justice, she told us all that Dublin was safe. This was despite that anyone who regularly walks through the city centre could tell her that the city was not safe. You can walk through the main parts of the city without ever seeing a Garda. That is not the fault of front-line gardaí. They go out of their way every morning and every evening to do incredible work to keep our communities safe. The fault lies with the Government and successive Ministers for Justice who have failed time and again to give An Garda Síochána the manpower and resources to turn the tide and get the job done. Despite the Minister, Deputy McEntee's, declaration that the city was safe, which she made while surrounded by a dozen gardaí as she walked through O'Connell Street, her successor as the Minister for Justice has told us that parts of Dublin are not safe. He has just not told us which parts and what he is going to do about. Over recent weeks we have had a number of very serious criminal incidents in the city. The most serious of those were the stabbings in Stoneybatter and the fatal stabbing on South Anne Street. These horrific attacks and their devastating consequences have only added to people's fears and sense of danger. In the absence of serious Government action, the situation has gone from bad to worse. Is it not clear that knife crime and the carrying of knives is a real threat to people's safety? Until two days ago there was no indication that there were any gaps in terms of the powers needed by An Garda Síochána to police knife crime, not from the Minister, Deputy McEntee, not from the current Taoiseach, not from the Minister for Justice, Deputy O'Callaghan, and certainly not when Deputy Mary Lou McDonald raised the issue with the Taoiseach here on Tuesday. Yet, the Minister for Justice has now indicated that new laws would be introduced to give gardaí greater powers to stop and search people who they suspect of carrying knives. My question to the Minister, Deputy McEntee, is straightforward. As a former Minister for Justice who made the declaration that Dublin city was safe, does she now agree with the current Minister for Justice when he says that parts of Dublin are not safe?  Does the Minister agree with the current Minister for Justice that current laws are not adequate to deal with the issues of knife crime and people carrying knives?  If that is the case, why did the Minister, Deputy McEntee, not do anything about it? Is it not the case that we simply do not have enough gardaí on the beat to police existing laws?

Sentiment score: -0.05

Does the Minister have a problem answering the question? Let us try again. I asked three questions. As Minister for Justice she stated that Dublin city was safe. She was surrounded by gardaí as she did her walkabout through the city centre. The current Minister for Justice, Deputy O'Callaghan, has told us that parts of Dublin city are not safe. He has not told us where and he has not told us what he is going to do about it. As the former Minister for Justice, I am asking the Minister, Deputy McEntee, if she agrees with him. That is the first question. Please answer it. The second question concerns the Minister for Justice now telling us we need more laws on knife crime. Does the Minister, Deputy McEntee, agree with that? Why did she not do anything about this when she was the Minister for Justice? When did the penny drop on this issue that we have a serious problem with knife crime in this city and elsewhere? On the third question, does the Minister accept that we simply do not have enough gardaí and that over her tenure as the Minister for Justice she did not reach the targets that were set year after year? These are three simple questions. Let us do it for the second time. Does the Minister agree with the Minister for Justice that parts of Dublin are not safe? Does she agree that we need new legislation on knife crime and why did she not do anything about it during her term in government? Is it not the root of the problem that we do not have enough gardaí on the streets?

Sentiment score: 0.11

I am still none the wiser. Is Dublin city safe or not?

Sentiment score: 0.11