Private security patrolling Dublin would not have additional capacity to arrest people

Proposed safety wardens would not have additional statutory powers to arrest, demand identification, require a person to leave a public street, search people, issue fines or enforce local authority bylaws, Dublin City Council has said.

The statement from the local authority comes after The Irish Times revealed that plans are being advanced to hire private security operatives to patrol Dublin city centre following discussions between business representatives and Robert Watt’s new city regeneration authority.

Watt, the former Department of Health secretary general, has been appointed to lead the Dublin City Development Company, tasked with regenerating O’Connell Street and the surrounding area.

A tender is being drafted to contract a security firm who will provide “safety operatives” to complement Garda resources.

In its statement on Wednesday, the council said “safety on our streets should be our number one priority”.

Its project management unit has been conducting research and looking to other jurisdictions to “inform best practice” on options to improve safety on streets, implement change and provide additional supports to An Garda Síochána, residents and the business community, it said.

“Dublin City Council has been liaising with An Garda Síochána, Department of Justice and the business community to develop concepts,” it said.

“We are also reviewing structures adopted by Irish Rail and Luas to understand the implementation of security measures on public transport. Similar to safety warden schemes in operation in other jurisdictions, appointed safety wardens would not have additional statutory powers to arrest, demand identification, require a person to leave a public street, to search people, or issue fines/enforce local authority bylaws.”

A full report is being finalised and its delivery will be on the agenda of the city council meeting next month, the local authority added.

“The final decision on this will respect all appropriate decision-making protocols.”

Social Democrats TD Gary Gannon said it was a “harebrained proposal” that raised “multiple legal and civil liberty concerns”.

“It does not inspire confidence in the Government’s plans to regenerate the city centre if this is the best they can come up with to make people feel safer,” the Dublin Central TD said.

“Maintaining law and order on the streets of our capital is the role of gardaí – and gardaí only. We cannot allow the Government to abdicate responsibility for policing our streets by hiring private security staff – a move that would give rise to multiple legal and civil liberty concerns.”

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The Irish Council for Civil Liberties has also questioned the legal basis of the plans and what the security operatives would be authorised to do.

Olga Cronin, head of policy with the organisation, told RTÉ Radio 1: “The key question here is if there’s this proposal to have private security on our public streets, what the actual clear and lawful basis is for that and what exactly the operatives will be authorised to do.

“So in a nutshell, we would have serious questions both on the procedural questions, like how this kind of circumvented normal protocols, and also the operational questions as to what exactly this will look like on our streets.”

The Dublin City Development Company is being established to implement the recommendations of the Dublin City Taskforce, published two years ago in response to the November 2023 riots incited by far-right agitators following the stabbing of three children and a carer on Parnell Square.

The company has yet to be legally incorporated but an interim project management unit has been established, headed by Watt.