Agenda and minutes

Attached

Welcome Nicko Murphy Assistant CEO of the Darndale Belcamp Village Centre

Councillor Brabazon gave apologies as he will be late to meeting & requested Councillor O’Toole to chair however as Councillor O’Toole was having difficulties logging on Councillor Cooney agreed to chair until his arrival.

Agreed

Inspector John Moroney to give presentation – see attached.

Presentation given by Detective Inspector John Moroney. Councillor Lyons asked if statistics for DMR North were available at a local level & asked if they could be compared from city to county. Detective Inspector Moroney advised that these statistics are done on a divisional basis and this intimidation is in every community across the city and county. Councillor Heney thanked him for his work and presentation and asked as a result of the DRIVE programme are the perpetrators being examined and if so what’s the result going to be used for? Could it be a pilot project between An Garda Siochana, stakeholders & Dublin City Council to target people falling into this criminality. Detective Inspector Moroney said that children from a young age need to be educated that drugs lead to criminality and the consequences of this.

Councillor Batten wanted to know what the rationale was around this unit being placed in Clontarf when needed in other areas more. It was said that this behaviour is in all areas of society and at present Clontarf has all the facilities that are needed however this facility will cover the division of DMR North.

Councillor O’Muiri raised concerns in relation to vaping from a young age leading into drug use and the sale of drugs on social media also the lenient sentence being given to individuals convicted of intimidation. Detective Inspector Moroney said that the sentence mentioned was considered good due to no previous convictions and that children are pushing the boundaries to next stage once they have tried vaping, in relation to social media this is mainstream.

Deputy O’ Riordan has had constituents that are too afraid to go to the Gardai so they go to their credit union instead however this is not a solution as Detective Inspector Moroney said it does not make the issue go away. It was suggested by Deputy O’Riordan that the issues raised at the meeting be fed into the planned Citizens Assembly on Drugs which is being held later this year.

Councillor Cooney mentioned that while on her weekly clean ups in Clontarf that the area has a lot more vapes and canisters being dumped.

Councillor Gilliland said it should be on primary & post primary curriculum to make children aware of the impact drugs including vapes can have on mind & body as well as family and that not all people come out the other side.

Councillor Roe requested contact information be shared with all Councillors for them to be able to forward to constituents and suggested credit union be issued with these numbers also for members who are in need.

Chief Superintendent Curran thanked Detective Inspector Moroney and his team for great work and dedication to each case. He advised for anyone who may find themselves in this situation to contact the Gardai in order for them to gain intelligence on these individuals.

Sergeant Stephen Kenny to give verbal update.

Sergeant Kenny gave an update on the role of the crime prevention officer and advised anyone looking for information to first contact the local Garda station who would feed all information through, they can do this by contacting the following:

ballymun_ds@garda.ie           coolock_ds@garda.ie             raheny_ds@garda.ie

He advised all of us to ensure we are all aware of our surroundings and advised that all Gardai can be identified by the their shoulder number which may start with a H J or R followed by a number. Both Councillor O’Farrell & Councillor Heney raised concerns in relation to personal safety especially at the new Clontarf to City Centre bike scheme at Fairview Park which is very enclosed and hemmed in, Sergeant Kenny asked that they both send their concerns directly to him following meeting.

Councillor Cooney asked has the number of bike thefts increased and can a registration number be an option to prove ownership? Sergeant Kenny advised that bike shops have been asked to record frame numbers and that there are places that you can have the bike engraved.

Dympna Mc Cann to give update – see attached.

Update given by Dympna Mc Cann who advised Darndale together.ie has gone live since our last meeting October 2022, this along with Darndale together on social media (facebook/Instagram) highlights all services in the area and what is happening, it also allows for feedback to establish how or what can be improved. Dympna was pleased to say that Primrose Anti-dumping is complete and a contractor has been employed to work with the residents in the coming months. A newsletter has been circulated and they are currently in the process of preparing the progress report for 2022 which will also be circulated.

Councillor Cooney thanked Dympna for her great work and said it was very positive that people could feed back into this project.

Councillor Lyons said the consistent engagement of all stakeholders has been key in this working group and would like to acknowledge and commend Dublin City Council in achieving results but not to forget the illegal dump in Belcamp still requires action.

Councillor O’Toole thanked both Dympna & Jack Nolan in steering this group.

Derek Farrell to give verbal update.

Derek Farrell is currently working with Superintendent Ronan Barry in relation to Section 38. A procurement document for the maintenance contract in Darndale has gone out & it is hoped to have a new camera on the illegal dump soon. At present the new bill in relation to CCTV is in front of the Oireachtas but this has not yet been passed.

Councillor O’Muir asked who is following up on the CCTV on the perimeter of St Annes Park now that Bernie Roe has left. Derek Farrell advised Councillor O’Muiri that he would look into this but wanted to remind everyone that the bill has not yet been enacted.

Councillor Cooney said that this was an Act not a Bill which was awaiting the implementation.

Santry – see attached

Superintendent Darren Mc Carthy

Raheny/Clontarf – see attached

Superintendent David Kennedy

Coolock – see attached

Superintendent Ronan Barry

Councillor O’Toole advised the committee that he had to go and asked fellow councillors if one could take over, Councillor Gililand agreed.

Santry – Superintendent Darren Mc Carthy gave update. Cllr Batten asked was he aware of the increase in attempted burglaries in the Santry/Beaumont area which Superintendent Mc Carthy advised he was and that extra gardai were on beat since before Christmas.

Raheny/Clontarf – Superintendent Ronan Barry gave update and advised that he would be covering both Clontarf & Coolock areas in the interim until someone was appointed to Superintendent Kennedy’s place as he has moved to Detective Superintendent. He assured everyone that both he & Superintendent Kennedy were still working closely together. It was suggested by Superintendent Barry that a brief presentation maybe given at next meeting on Domestic Violence.

Councillor O’Farrell asked why it was the local station who investigate historical spiritans to which it was confirmed by Detective Inspector Moroney that it’s on a national level however this would be done locally.

Councillor Cooney raised concerned in relation to graffit/tagging. Superintendent Barry said there is a surveillance on graffiti and bringing the culprits to justice re the TAG system which is collated in Raheny and is communicated throughout the country.

Councillor Heney wanted to thank the four Gardai who she had to call over the Christmas period and said they were top class.

Chief Superintendent Mark Curran to give verbal update if any.

Chief Superintendent Curran advised the committee that unfortunately there is no update on this but assured everyone that it was at a high Chief Executive & Commissioner level. He thanked Dublin City Council who have been very helpful on this matter and advised that as soon as there is any more information he will bring this back to committee.

Cllr Cooney raised concerns in relation to intimidation of refugees protests being held around the city to which Chief Superintendent Curran advised that the protests recently in Ballymun were all peaceful protests and no problems have arisen to date however An Garda Siochana will continue to patrol and ensure these are just protests.

Catherine Cahill welcomed Nicko Murphy onto the committee as Linda Hayden’s replacement from the Belcamp Village Centre.

Councillor Brabazon thanked Councillor Cooney, Councillor O’Toole & Councillor Gilliland for agreeing to chair the meeting in his absence.

Next Meeting will take place on Monday 17th April 2023 via Zoom at 10.30am.