Justice Minister Helen McEntee has announced that the proceeds of crime will be put back into the community.
€2 million that was seized in raids by the Criminal Assets Bureau will be reinvested through grants under the Community Safety Innovation Fund.
It is the first round of grants given out since Minister McEntee and Minister for Public Expenditure Michael McGrath established the Community Safety Innovation Fund in April 2021.
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€2 million was allocated to it under Budget 2022 - and this will increase to €3 million next year under Budget 2023.
Under the scheme, 22 community projects across the country are set to benefit from grants ranging from €5,000 to €150,000, which will support the delivery of innovative projects to improve community safety in their local areas.
Speaking about the community grants, Minister McEntee said:
“This fund reflects the successes of An Garda Síochána and the Criminal Assets Bureau in identifying and seizing the ill-gotten gains of criminals. Equally, people across Ireland are working tirelessly in their communities to prevent crime from taking hold and make their local areas safer.
“Working together, we will build stronger, safer communities. By putting this money back into the community, we can show that there is a direct link between the activities of law enforcement and improving community safety.
“Based on the high quality of proposals received, I believe the successful projects have the potential to have a real impact on their respective communities.
“I also want to encourage those who applied this year but did not receive funding to apply next year – we are increasing the size of the fund by 50 per cent under Budget 2023. My department will provide guidance on how to achieve a successful application.”
Community safety
Under the 2022 Justice Plan, the development of the Community Safety Innovation Fund was a key commitment.
The fund opened for applications in April 2022 and a total of 124 were received by the deadline of 8 June.
On Monday, Minister McEntee visited the Dublin North Inner City Local Community Safety Partnership based in and the Meath Travellers Workshop, two organisations that will receive funding for projects to improve community safety under the initiative.
The Meath Travellers Workshop engages with young members of the Travelling community who may be vulnerable to falling into crime across Meath.
The community projects that were granted aid and will receive funding are below:
- Longford LCSP Cornerstone initiatives €137,500
- Meath Travellers Workshop Positive Ripple Effect Within the Traveller Community €99,831
- Dublin LCSP, Dublin Town, DCC Dublin North Inner City Community Safety Warden Scheme €150,000
- Waterford LCSP (Application 1) Dungarvan Community Project €41,403
- Waterford LCSP (Application 4) North West Suburbs Community Action Plan €25,000
- Outcomers (Dundalk with potential national reach) App Happy (Discussing online dating safety with young gay and bisexual men) €36,800
- Longford Women's Link, Responding to the risk of Domestic Violence Homicide in Rural Ireland €20,686
- Monaghan Fire and Civil Protection, Personal & Community Resilience Booklet €58,429
- Monaghan JPC, Advancing Community Safety in Monaghan €65,000
- Red Door Project (Drogheda), Prison Link Worker €98,014
- Meath Community Drug Alcohol Response, MCDAR Community Prison Links Worker €49,711
- Empower (Balbriggan, Co. Dublin), Balbriggan Intercultural Youth Hub €150,000
- Foróige New Choices Project (Drogheda, Meath/Louth), New Choices €150,000
- Roscommon CoCo & JPC, Four Projects €5,000
- Walkinstown Greenhills Resource Centre (Dublin), Building Community Resilience Project €135,770
- Bedford Row Family Project (Clare), Bedford Row in Clare €148,000
- Omeath District Development CLG (Louth), Steering and Sparring €118,167
- Gorey Youth Needs Group (Wexford), Discovery Project €28,940
- Ballymun Local DATF (Dublin), ‘Base Bus Ballymun’ :Community Mobile Access Project €120,000
- Familibase (Ballyfermot, Dublin), FamiliBase “That’s a WRAP” €136,414
- Dublin City University (LSCP Pilot areas - North Inner City Dublin, Waterford & Longford), Moving Well Being Well €103,546
- Sligo Business Improvement District, Sligo Street Ambassador Programme €121,789
Funding total allocated: €2,000,000
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