Sinn Féin TD for Dublin South West Seán Crowe has welcomed the announcement of a new Community Safety Innovation Fund which will be resourced through the seizure of the proceeds of crime, saying that this “will be a lifeline for community projects that have been starved of funding by government”.

Teachta Crowe said:

“I welcome the announcement of a new Community Safety Innovation Fund, which will go towards funding projects that protect our communities and prevent the flow of young people into a life of crime and criminal behaviour.

“Too many of our young people are caught in the spiral of addiction and criminal activity and we have seen precious little proactive measures coming from government.

“The Fund will be administered by Community Safety Partnerships and I hope that their work is swift and productive. Too many community and support groups in the Dublin Southwest area have been starved of funding over the years by successive governments and this Fund will potentially be a lifeline.

“It is however imperative that this funding is not used as an excuse to cut already stretched funding from local government. It needs to be entirely new additional money. The groups in my constituency working to combat the devastating effects of drug crime cannot bear the brunt of any more government cutbacks in this sector.”