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?

I thank the Deputy for raising this matter. At the outset I offer my sincere condolences to the young man who was brutally stabbed at the weekend. I must make it clear, and An Garda Síochána has made it very clear in its actions to date, that whoever is responsible for this will be held accountable and will be brought to justice. I acknowledge also the serious incident that occurred last weekend.

It is absolutely this Government's intention and priority, and has always been the case, that people feel safe and that they are safe in their homes and on their streets. It is for that very reason as a former Minister for Justice I increased the budget for An Garda Síochána by half a billion euro. It is for that very reason my number one priority and the number one priority for this Government and the current Minister is to make sure the number of gardaí we have on our streets, in our towns and in our cities continues to increase. That number is steadily rising for our capital city. More than 50% of our new recruits have consistently gone to Dublin city centre and the surrounding areas. That is why as the Minister for Justice I introduced body cameras for the first time in our city centre to make sure gardaí are equipped to respond to the many challenges we face, not just in Dublin but across the country. That is why our current Minister is committed to making sure gardaí have other technologies and equipment available to them, such as facial recognition technology, so they can respond to incidents.

When it comes to knife crime this is an issue that I and that every person in this Government and beyond takes extremely seriously. This is why, when Minister, I increased the penalty for those who are found not just carrying a knife and in possession of a knife but also those who threaten to use a knife and of course those who use a knife, reflecting the severity of this crime. The number of confiscations by gardaí and the number of seizures have increased significantly in recent years. The police powers Bill referenced by the Deputy, which I instigated in the Department and which has been followed through, will make sure gardaí have even greater powers available to them to respond to these crimes.

Of course there are challenges in our capital city and I have never shied away from that, but I believe we all recognise that it is not just the role of our Garda to make sure people are safe. This is why two things have to progress. One is the community safety partnerships, which look at community safety from a whole-of-community perspective, and the second is making sure our gardaí are working with our local authorities, our community groups, our young people, educators, housing sector and so much beyond in order that they come together and deliver a plan for their areas. That includes Dublin city centre and our capital. That is why our task force, which was led by our current Tánaiste and former Taoiseach, set out very clearly that there were a number of things we need to do now. While we must continue to increase the number of gardaí in our city centre, which is happening, we need to look at issues like dereliction and street lighting, the concentration of services in our city centre, who is accommodated in our city centre and how that is developed. We also need to work collectively to respond to the challenges that exist, and I am absolutely committed, as is this Government, to making sure we all play our part in responding to those challenges.

I assure the Deputy that when it comes to safety, ensuring people are safe and that they feel safe in their cities, homes and on our streets is a number one priority for this Government. The Deputy will note and see in all of the actions outlined in the programme for Government, which was agreed by all parties on this side of the House, that more measures will be taken, not just to introduce tougher laws, as has been the case to date, but to ensure recruitment continues to increase, whether that be through increasing the training allowance available to our gardaí to encourage more, making sure we have greater availability for gardaí to train and not just in Templemore, making sure we look to expand our force to make sure it is as diverse as possible so it reflects the communities gardaí are supporting, or making sure we do everything possible to support the Garda in its work. I acknowledge the substantial work our gardaí do day in and day out in making sure they keep the people of this country safe.

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?

For the second time, I will repeat it for the people in the back who may not have heard my response to all Deputy Doherty's three questions. The Deputy might repeat what I have actually said over the past number of years. There are absolutely problems in our city centre and in every part of our country that we need to address. By addressing those, we can ensure every person is safe and feels safe in our towns, homes and villages. I have always said there are challenges. I have outlined all the things I have done and that our new, current Minister for Justice will do with the support of the Government to achieve those overall objectives.

I introduced laws specifically recognising the fact that there is a significant problem when a young person decides to carry a knife or when a young person or any person thinks it is appropriate to carry a knife. That is why increasing sentencing was a priority for the previous Government and why making sure gardaí have as power much as possible to ascertain those knives is an absolute priority.

On the final point, we are making progress and seeing more gardaí. I have said we need to go beyond 15,000 gardaí. In fact, we have a higher target than we set initially.

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