Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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19. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality the extent to which the strength and deployment of An Garda Síochána continues to be sufficient to deal with drug and organised crime in line with population increases and the need to ensure adequate policing in areas currently appearing to have a deficiency; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [26461/24]

Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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This question seeks to focus on the manner in which criminal gangs associated with drug racketeering manage to work their way into new estates, of which there are many in the eastern region. All that is required is to bypass the vetting system, get in there, get a distributor in there and very soon the whole area is polluted with the nuisance.

Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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I assure the Deputy of my commitment and that of the Garda to dealing with all forms of drug dealing, be it individuals in the estates he mentioned or the larger organised crime groups. Of course, to deal with this on a national level, the Garda needs to make sure it does what it can, working with international partners. It also needs the resources to try and stop these loads coming into the country.

This is reflected in the unprecedented of €2.35 billion provided to the Garda, an increase of about 23% in the past three years. This allows additional assigned resources to be allocated to An Garda Síochána in the specialised units involved in tackling drug dealing and overall organised crime groups. We have the Garda National Drugs and Organised Crime Bureau, the Garda National Bureau of Criminal Investigation, the armed support unit and the Criminal Assets Bureau, CAB. As I mentioned earlier, the bureau has done fantastic work since its inception. The number of assets it has seized and the money it has seized over the years have continued to increase. The changes that I propose to make will ensure that it can access those assets quicker but also that criminals cannot frustrate its work and prevent that from happening.

I am also undertaking a significant number of actions to make sure that we have the gardaí we need to be able to respond to all types of crime, including this issue. I am increasing the retirement age of Garda members from 60 to 62. People can now join at 50 whereas before it was 35. We have increased the training allowance to support those coming into the college. We are also investing in tools, technology and equipment. Every year the Garda now has a budget of approximately €100 million to invest in the technology, vehicles and equipment it needs. A new helicopter will also be bought to make sure it can undertake all of this work, working closely with Interpol and Europol to tackle drug trafficking on a more localised. When I come back in, I might have time to outline some of the work that has been done in the communities to try to prevent younger people, in particular, from getting dragged into this.

Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Minister for her reply. I am drawing attention to the fact that vetting is supposed to take place in local authority housing estates and approved housing bodies. That does not seem to be effective because all that seems to happen is that people get through the system with impunity and as the result of that, they set up a whole network. Very soon the whole estate and surrounding estates are then polluted with the same problem. Parents are showing increased levels of concern and have been intimidated themselves. Some people have had to move out of their houses and sell their homes. Others have been victims of shooting and burning of houses, as mentioned by my colleagues across the floor. That is going on at the present time, despite the best efforts of An Garda Síochána and its successes in dealing with the problem on a national level. An atmosphere of fear is developing and I am asking that we focus on that in this particular instance.

Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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A form of vetting takes place where people are being placed in particular types of local authority housing. Beyond that, anybody can move into an area and this problem can arise. It is really important that the Garda is alerted to any issues that arise within the community. If people within the community have suspicions or indeed have evidence to show that drug dealing is taking place and that particular communities are being subjected to the types of abuse and attacks that the Deputy mentioned, it is important that the Garda be made aware of this. It is then about making sure that particular communities that might be impacted more than others get the support and the resources so that the young people are protected in whatever way they can be. That can be through youth intervention or the youth diversion programmes that have been rolled out by my colleague the Minister of State. We need to make sure that the Garda and local schools have the resources they need.

In any instance where an individual or people within a house or a community are carrying out these types of acts, it is the role of the Garda to make sure that people are held accountable. I appreciate that people are sometimes concerned about coming forward, but if the Garda does not have evidence or information, it is very hard for it to take prosecutions.

Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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In her reply, the Minister has described exactly the kind of thing that is happening. It is not just restricted to local authority estates. When a complaint is made by a resident, the response from the housing body, for instance, is not always great. Let us not forget that criminal gangs and the criminal world have sufficient resources at their disposal to buy a house or an apartment anywhere. On one recent occasion the complainant seemed to be blamed for causing a nuisance. Of course, the nuisance was that the housing body in question had to deal with it or was expected to deal with it. In those circumstances it is high-handed of it to suggest that the complainant is the problem because obviously if the complainant is taken from the estate, it will be a free-for-all, which is what happens in many cases. I ask for a particular initiative to be taken to deal with that.

Ruairi Ó Murchú (Louth, Sinn Fein)
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I would like to follow up on what Deputy Durkan has spoken about. Obviously, drug dealing happens from privately rented and privately owned houses, and houses that are owned by approved housing bodies. There is a particular issue with local authority housing owing to the lack of power the council may have to deal with this. Every two-bit drug dealer has seen "The Wire". They are not as stupid as we might think them to be. They can keep operating for much longer. At times they would have less pressure on them if they had a greater level of discretion. Sometimes they like to do it in the face of the community surrounding them. I have dealt with multiple issues like this. We need to review how we deal with these circumstances and how we assess the dangers for people. There are particular issues where families have a considerable number of children, which makes it more difficult. The only time that I have seen people evicted is when it is a single person who is caught red-handed selling drugs in the house. It is an issue we need to look at.

Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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I say this from experience. In our own constituencies, we have all come across situations of families with children involved and there are different scenarios. It is therefore not as straightforward as moving people out of communities. However, where somebody is creating that level of fear and intimidation within an estate or a community, it is really important that the Garda responds and acts, as I believe it does. At the same time, it needs to have the evidence and the support to be able to move forward with prosecutions. Often, it is a prosecution that is needed to move somebody on, or even to take an individual out of the situation where a family and younger children might need to be protected.

Deputy Durkan mentioned people buying properties and unexplained wealth. Obviously, that is the role of CAB. It is important for local gardaí to have sight of what is going on and of who is in what community. People in the community can anonymously reach out to CAB and the Garda the if they feel that somebody in the area has unexplained wealth and has been able to buy property without any sign of how that might have been possible. There are layers to this, but it comes back to investing in communities, investing in resources and supporting communities so they feel that they can come forward and that there will be outcomes at the end.