Minister McEntee and Minister Browne announce new Cherry Orchard Implementation Board

Minister for Justice Helen McEntee TD and Minister of State for Law Reform James Browne TD have today announced the establishment of a new group to implement and co-ordinate supports for the Cherry Orchard community.

Minister McEntee and Minister Browne said Brendan Foster, a partner in Grant Thornton, former chair of the Dublin Chamber of Commerce and the current chair of the Cherry Orchard Development Group, is to head up the new Cherry Orchard Implementation Board.

The model followed by the new Cherry Orchard Implementation Board (COIB) will be similar to the Drogheda Implementation Board, where an independent chair is working with Government Departments and agencies to progress projects and initiatives to improve safety and wellbeing.

The Cherry Orchard Implementation Board will also be supported by a full time staff member, as is the case in Drogheda.

Mr Foster will be the independent chair of the COIB, and he and the board will work with the local community, stakeholders and providers.

He currently chairs the existing Cherry Orchard Development Group, whose work will be built upon and expanded by the new board.

The Department of Justice and Dublin City Council will work with Mr Foster over the coming weeks to identify members and supports needed for COIB.

The establishment of the new group comes after Minister McEntee and Minister Browne met with community organisations and representatives in the Cherry Orchard area in recent weeks.

It will also form part of a cross government initiative led by the Department of the Taoiseach to best examine the issue of local area disadvantage in a number of areas and how best to intensify the interventions, where necessary, already underway.

The Cherry Orchard project will be included in this overall work from the Department of the Taoiseach. Funding will be properly allocated and resources will be put in place to implement agreed actions to improve safety and wellbeing in Cherry Orchard.

The Government has recently made a number of announcements to support the community in Chery Orchard. These include €123,200 to the Equine Centre under the Dormant Accounts Action Plan 2023 which will support Garda Youth Diversion Projects and initiatives to help young people find employment.

Minister McEntee also recently confirmed that one of the successful applicants to the 2022 Community Safety Innovation Fund was the "That's a Wrap" project from Familibase, which serves Ballyfermot and the surrounding areas.

The project will receive over €135,000 to assist with outreach programmes for hard to reach young people.

The Community Safety Innovation Fund was established to reinvest the proceeds of crime seized by the Criminal Assets Bureau (CAB), into community safety projects.

Budget 2023 increased the funding for the CSIF to €3million from €2million.

Minister McEntee is also driving the nationwide rollout of new Community Safety Partnerships. These will be the key mechanism for ensuring that all aspects of Irish society work together to make sure that people are safe and feel safe in their communities.