A mural created by young people at Oberstown Children Detention Campus and members of An Garda Síochána has been unveiled in north Dublin.
The artwork project, facilitated by Gaisce - The President's Award, is aimed at building trust and empathy between young people and gardaí.
The "Outreach" mural is located on the wall of Balbriggan Garda Station.
It is the result of a collaboration between some of the young people in Oberstown and community gardaí in Balbriggan.
The image is designed to capture the community element of policing and the importance of strong relations between the police service and their communities.
It was unveiled by Minister of State with responsibility for Community Development Joe O'Brien.
Individual art pieces, drawn by the young people and gardaí with symbols of their lives, have also been put on display in the public office of the garda station.
A second 200 metre mural, the "Breath of Fresh Éire", was painted at Balbriggan Rugby Club to represent the evolving community that makes up the area.
The work was led by street artist and art teacher Joe Caslin during workshops in Oberstown.
The organisers said the project is representative of wider efforts to develop a more collaborative and community approach to policing in Ireland.
After its period of display in Balbriggan, the Outreach mural will be given a permanent home at the Garda Training College in Templemore, Co Tipperary, where it is hoped the message it contains will be passed on to future generations of gardaí.
Mr Caslin said the aim of the project was to try to "foster a better relationship with the gardai that are based in Balbriggan and the community".
"What you see is the garda with her hand reaching out to the community members and the community members are made up of leaders that are within the town but also the young people," he said.
Mr Caslin said the initiative was also aimed at enabling the young people "to have better experiences".
He said his role in the project was "to be a creative and facilitate their voice being heard and for them to make positive contributions."
The Director of Oberstown Children Detention Campus, Damien Hernon, said the participants "loved it".
He said the young people were "initially, a bit standoffish when they figured out that the lads were guards" but he said the fact the gardai were in their "civvies" and "speaking the same language" as the kids, "really lowered all the barriers and the relationship really developed."
He said the staff in Oberstown are "proud of the beautiful mural that the young people have created in collaboration with An Garda Síochána".
Mr Hernon said he hopes it will serve as a symbol of the young people's ability to make a positive impact in their communities.
It has been described as a mutually beneficial project.
For the gardaí involved, it was an opportunity to work on how they engage with younger people.
Superintendent Paul Franey from Balbriggan Garda Station, said the purpose of the scheme was to bring gardai together with young people who are detained in Oberstown and "build the relationship".
He said there is learning in the initiative for gardai.
"Engaging with young people is challenging and can be really difficult. It helps us develop our skills set, in terms of how to engage with people, particularly where there is conflict, how to engage with people better and hopefully bring about better outcomes."
Superintendent Franey said the gardai "were nervous going in" and he said "at the start, it was a bit tense between the young people and the guards."
"By the end, they had a really good working relationship with them."
Avril Ryan, the Chief Executive of Gaisce – The President’s Award, described the project as "absolutely groundbreaking."
She said it’s an opportunity for the young people in Oberstown to have their voices heard.
"Very often young people in Oberstown are not heard and it’s a lovely opportunity to see the positive benefits and maybe the positive futures that those young people might see for themselves."
Ms Ryan said it has brought out the best in the young people involved.
One of the young participants described it as "a deadly project" getting to know the guards who were taking part.
Another said: "I didn’t think the gardai were going to be sound."
One other said: "I didn’t talk to them for the first workshop but when I got to know them they were sound."
While another participant said: "At the end of the day, when you get to know someone, you tend to see them differently."
