“Minister for Justice’s Alcohol Sales Plans Contradicts Town Centre Living Policy” – Tóibín
Aontú leader Peadar Tóibín has criticised the announcement that Alcohol sales plan.
Speaking today, Peadar Tóibín said “As a person who grew up living next door to a pub and 5 doors away from a nightclub, I know that this law is not compatible for families living in town centres. We are being told that repopulating town centres with families is one of the solutions to housing crisis. Yetone of the reasons families a leaving towns centres is the threat of anti-social behaviour. In many places extending licencing laws and encouraging people back into towns are mutually exclusive objectives”.
“A lot of attention has been placed on O’Connell Street in recent times but many main streets in many towns face similar crime challenges. Loud music, windows being smashed, fights, drugs, puke on the streets, chipper litter strewn all over the streets are already the experience of communities. These laws may well lead to these problems being made worse. I’m not saying that a there is not room for manoeuvre, extensions or change, but if its to happen it must be done in a way that means families with young children can live safely in houses on the streets in the centre of our towns. In a housing crisis that is the priority”.
Tóibín continued “The Minister of Justice is overseeing a spiralling crime crisis. Sexual Crime alone has risen by 75% since Fine Gael was elected in 2011. The number of rapes reported has increased by 100%. Attempts and threats to murder, assaults, harassment, and related offences have also increased by 20%. Successive Fine Gael Governments have also hollowed out the Guards as an effective force to deal with this crisis. This year alone, the Government has met 3% of its Garda Recruitment targets so far. Despite the government setting a target of 800, only 24 new Gardaí have been recruited. The mind boggles are where this Minister’s priorities are”.
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