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At the request of the Minister for Justice, Helen McEntee TD, the Public Appointments Service has today launched a recruitment competition to appoint a Director of the National Office for Community Safety.
The National Office will be formally established when the new Policing, Security and Community Safety Act is commenced later this year, and will be instrumental in developing and overseeing implementation of a new National Strategy for Improving Community Safety. The Office will also promote inter-agency collaboration and community engagement to improve community safety nationwide.
The National Office will also work closely with Local Community Safety Partnerships, setting and overseeing targets to evaluate their effectiveness.
Speaking about this important new position, Minister Helen McEntee said:
“The Policing, Security and Community Safety Act will make the prevention of harm a specific statutory objective of An Garda Síochána. However, it will also place statutory obligations on Departments and public service bodies to cooperate with each other to improve community safety. The new legislation establishes national structures to provide strategic direction and ensure that collaboration is working, and provides for the establishment of local community safety partnerships to develop local safety plans that are tailored to the priorities and needs identified by communities themselves.
The role of Director is an excellent opportunity for someone with a strong commitment to public service to play a key role in implementing a new national strategy for community safety and supporting the newly established LCSPs which will make a tangible change in communities across Ireland where community safety is concerned. I have no doubt this position will be as challenging as it is rewarding and I look forward to meeting and working with the successful candidate. My focus is and will remain on making communities safe, and the establishment of the National Office with oversight of a National Strategy to Improve Community Safety is key to that.”
The new National Office of Community Safety will be overseen by a Community Safety Steering Group to be established by the Minister for Justice, which will, in turn, report to a designated Cabinet Committee.
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Notes to the Editor:
• Link to PAS advertisement - https://www.publicjobs.ie/en/?option=com_jobsearch&view=jobdetails&cid=187399&campaignId=24166308&Itemid=263
• Link to Policing, Security and Community Safety Act - https://www.irishstatutebook.ie/eli/2024/act/1/enacted/en/html
• The PSCS Act has been developed based on the recommendations of the Commission on the Future of Policing which reported in 2018 having comprehensively examined all aspects of policing including all functions carried out by An Garda Síochána and the totality of the oversight arrangements.
• It provides for a new framework for policing and community safety aimed at improving the performance and accountability of our police service to the benefit of the safety of communities, and new arrangements for national security.
• The Commission on the Future of Policing recognises that community safety cannot be the responsibility of An Garda Síochána or government alone, rather it requires a multi-sectoral, multi-agency approach.
• For the purposes of the Bill and related communications, the term “community safety” can be understood as referring to multi-sectoral approaches at national and local level to enhance the safety, and perception of safety, in communities through collaboration between relevant Departments of State and public service bodies and community engagement in the prevention of crime and harm.
• The Bill sets out a statutory framework at national and local level to drive the delivery of community safety, including the establishment of Local Community Safety Partnerships (replacing Joint Policing Committees) to develop local community safety plan that are tailored to the specific needs of each community. Membership will include local representatives, service provides and a range of community representatives who will work in partnership supported by dedicated staff.