Attacks on Delivery Workers and Knife Crime in North Inner City

I spoke with Matt Cooper on Today FM's The Last Word this week about the recent spate of knife crime, and the unacceptable attacks on frontline delivery workers which have become depressingly frequent in the north inner city.

However, I argue that we need to move away from simply viewing this as a justice issue, and see it also as an employment issue, a public health issue, and an issue of community solidarity. Despite an increase in the number of Garda Youth Diversion Programmes operating nationwide, since 2015 the number operating in the north inner city has dropped from five to three. This raises serious questions around Garda resourcing, and I've written to the Garda Commissioner and the Minister for Justice highlighting these concerns.

Despite a 10% increase in knife crime in 2019, it emerged recently that there has been a reduction from five down to three in the number of Garda Youth Diversion Programmes within the Dublin Metropolitan Region – North Central over the past five years.

There is a lot of hurt and anger out there at the moment, but this can never be an excuse for threatening or attacking anybody on the street, least of all those trying to complete a night’s work. I have spoken in recent days to a number of food delivery workers for Deliveroo and JustEat, and to people across the community after the tragic passing of Urantsetseg Tserendorj.

However, our response to the rise in violent crime in the city has been inadequate. What is needed is a strong, active Garda presence within the community but it is deeply regrettable that the number of Garda Youth Diversion Programmes within the North Inner City has dropped from five to three since 2015 – even as the numbers of such programmes have increased nationally.

I have written to the Garda Commissioner and the Minister for Justice this morning to highlight my serious concerns and to ask them to expand the Garda youth diversion programme in the North Inner City.

There has been a lot of focus on tougher policing and harsher sentences, but it is important to remember that carrying a knife is already punishable by substantial fines, or up to five years in prison. What is needed is a focus on proactively preventing knife crime.

We need to move to a point where we see knife crime as a symptom of other issues relating to public health, employment, and community solidarity. We have much to learn from other cities such as Glasgow in this regard, where these insights are being deployed in order to ensure a focus on prevention. In this context, the reduction in GYDP programmes in the area is unacceptable.