Gardaí have done "an incredible job" in Dublin's north east inner city in responding to the huge threat of organised crime faced by the community, Minister for Finance Paschal Donohoe has said.
Gardaí had been successful in bringing crime gang members to justice over the past four years and in preventing further crime and threats to local residents in the city centre.
And without their work the North East Inner City (NIEC) project would not have had the success it achieved in developing the community in the wake of the crime gang attacks the community faced, he said.
Mr Donohoe was speaking as he launched the 2020 NIEC report, based on the initiative spearheaded by then taoiseach Enda Kenny following the Regency Hotel attack in 2016 and the eruption of the Kinahan-Hutch crime gangs murder feud.
Speaking outside St Mary’s Mansions off Sean McDermott Street where 180 residents moved into 80 new homes in the past six months, Mr Donohoe said that from where he was standing “you could go in two directions . . .to the locations of terrible murders that happened, nearly four years ago”.
Gardaí had contributed to the success of the project to improve the lives of people in this disadvantaged community but the response was always “about more than security”.
New initiatives were undertaken in housing and extra resources were put in place in 10 primary schools through the City Connects pilot project with three co-ordinators offering individualised supports to each child.
In one project youth workers “spend more time out and about and engaging with young teenagers, near their homes” in complexes like St Mary’s. They also go out late at night and early in the morning meeting children who are not at home and the Minister said that had made a real difference.
The NIEC project is chaired by Michael Stone who said the €6.5 million in funding this year allowed them to continue a wide range of programmes as they worked to achieve the goals of the Mulvey report on the north inner city "Towards a Brighter Future".
Drug addiction treatment, homeless initiatives, enhanced community policing are among the initiatives underway which also include late night football catering for groups of teenage girls, boys and young men.
