Community safety, social cohesion and embedded autonomy: A case from south-west Dublin

The article provides a case of community safety based upon an evaluative study of an community safety intervention in the south-west Dublin suburb of Tallaght. Characteristic of the Irish context for crime prevention and community safety has been the ad hoc nature of policy formation and the underdeveloped structures for urban security. The case is based primarily upon qualitative data from interviews and focus groups with key stakeholders, together with some additional observations from a household survey. The key themes centre on the way safety manifests from issues related to social integration in the pilot communities; the impact, capacity and potential of the local authority as an agent for urban security; the creative tension between evidence-based approaches and practical problem-solving; and the role of community safety workers' local knowledge and autonomous action within the local authority structures.