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The Dublin City Taskforce has recommended that mobile supervised drug consumption services in the city centre should be rolled out to deal with drug issues in Dublin.
The taskforce, led by An Post Chief Executive David McRedmond, was formed in May with the aim of developing a strategy to rejuvenate the capital following the November 2023 riots and the Covid-19 pandemic and lockdown.
A report produced by the taskforce, set to be released this morning, presents ten recommendations to enhance the safety and overall state of the city in the years ahead.
Regarding vulnerable individuals, the report recommends the rollout of mobile supervised drug consumption services in Dublin city centre to deal with drug use.
It also suggests that emergency accommodation and processing services should be more evenly spread across Dublin, and that services for vulnerable people should be located in a more suitable way.
On the issue of public safety and security, the taskforce recommends that 1,000 extra Gardaí be deployed to Dublin over 3 years. It argues that Dublin has less than the European average of police to city residents – Dublin has one Garda per 373 civilians, compared to the EU average of one police officer per 293 civilians.
The report also says that there are many Gardaí in Dublin city centre who are involved in non-policing work that could be carried out by other State agencies, which would free up officers to have more of an on-the-ground presence.
The report further suggested that private security on public transport should be increased and have increased powers.
Notably, this comes just a few weeks after security guards have been rolled out to patrol Dublin Bus services in response to an increase in anti-social incidents.
The taskforce further recommended a community warden scheme, and that the Garda Station on O’Connell street be relocated to the GPO.
A number of other recommendations around housing, nightlife and more have been made as part of the report which is set to be released later this morning.
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