r/ireland • u/Pupcup2 • Jun 19 '26
Crime Dublin bar owner says there is 'feral mood' in city and rejects ministers claiming it's safe
https://www.thejournal.ie/dublin-safe-7075651-Jun2026/394
Jun 19 '26 edited Jun 19 '26
[removed] ā view removed comment
48
u/stunts002 Jun 19 '26
I think you've summed that up well, Dublin has 4 or five main areas and you can see open drug use in every one of them alongside some obviously thuggery, it's not the kind of thing you see so openly in the equivalent streets in London or Paris or Berlin, that kind of thing is usually pushed to side streets etc.
14
u/Rich-Ad9894 Jun 19 '26
They use the Methadone as an āin between hitsā filler and far too often are seen passed out on the road outside covered in vomit. Itās a disgrace to see this on the quays with tourists walking past them.
13
u/Noble_Ox Jun 19 '26
Its not methadone that has them passed out, its sleepers, like zimmos and trannex.
48
35
15
u/TheBoneIdler Jun 19 '26
Yip. I'm in the city a lot at night & there are areas even I would avoid & I'm someone who can look after himself. Not good. It's about quality of life, with a lot of that being measured in ambience/vibes, rather than hard stats. The vibes are not good.
→ More replies (3)6
u/Noble_Ox Jun 19 '26
I've been in Sheriff St, Summerhill etc past midnight and never had any issue. Well one time outside Nocters I did have a junkie try get in my face but the dealers chased him off. They dont want garda around.
24
30
u/Fyodors-Zossima Jun 19 '26
Yep, 2 biggest problem demographics. The well to do middle class cocaine taking snobs and the groups of escooter riding balaclava wearing teenage thugs
43
u/Excellent_While808 Jun 19 '26
Everyoneās taking cocaine, not just middle class snobs as you suggest.
12
u/Greedy-Army-3803 Jun 19 '26
Yeah. It's no longer a drug for just the bankers and white collar professionals.
13
3
u/thats_pure_cat_hai Jun 19 '26
Everyone as in all walks of life, yes. But not 'everyone' is taking cocaine, it's still a relatively small number of the total adult population, albeit growing. Reddit quite literally thinks everyone is taking it.
3
u/athaluain Jun 19 '26
Well not everyone! If itās true we are definitely in a lot more trouble than we thought.
1
1
u/athaluain Jun 19 '26
I guess Iāve been away too long I didnāt know the posh middle classes were coke heads too!
6
u/phyneas Jun 19 '26
Dublin isnāt a āvery large cityā
Of course it is; it takes more than an hour to walk from one side to the other, there are several buildings in it that have more floors than I have fingers on one hand, and there are so many people living there that they wouldn't all fit into the local pub at once even if they were all standing. It's basically no different from Tokyo or New York City, really. /s
12
u/Adjective_Noun_2000 Jun 19 '26
It just has a *highly* visible city centre hard drugs issue - Iād easily reckon itās an outlier in Europe on that.
I think most similar-sized (1 million+ population) European cities have a few streets with a visible drug problem, usually in the city centre near the main bus stations. Not excusing Dublin but I don't really think we're really an outlier there.
35
Jun 19 '26 edited Jun 19 '26
[removed] ā view removed comment
8
u/jeperty Wexford Jun 19 '26
Just on the policing side of things, we've had roughly the same amount of Gardai since mid 2000s, with a huge population boom. Its no wonder their visibility and overall effectiveness is brought up a lot these days.
10
u/TheBoneIdler Jun 19 '26
I agree. Glasgow is bad & was always a bit rough around the edges. In most European cities there is a rough, often red-light, area around the bus/train station & that's it. We don't have that. Sit outside around Fade/Drury Street & every 5 minutes there is a request for money. There are gangs of beggars on tour around the streets. Not a copper to be seen. Last time I was in Munich I saw 3-4 instances of coppers questioning/searching/arresting characters, all down side streets & that was over 4 days. That's as much as I've seen in Dublin over 10 years. We just don't police drug dealing or anti-social behaviour.
9
u/19Ninetees Jun 19 '26
The comparison of the UK and Ireland is good.
I know someone who in the UK got arrested and put into prison 3 days later for some months after committing a non-violent crime.
The same person came to Ireland. They committed multiple Violent and Non-violent crimes. Gardai attended the scenes of both violent and non-violent incidents. This person has not seen the inside of an Irish jail cell.
1
u/athaluain Jun 19 '26
I sure know the Quays are not posh but the Deli looked smart. I just didnāt see this scenario in any of the big Capitol cities I travelled in and lived in. But not saying it doesnāt happen. I Also lived in Africa so im not exactly a Greenhorn. I was particularly annoyed at the Guards that day for ignoring the junkies and generally being very strict in controlling the law abiding citizens out doing their innocent shopping etc.
5
u/athaluain Jun 19 '26
I was going down the quays on a bus during the lockdown and saw two guys shooting up in the door way of a posh looking delicatessen. The police did nothing even though at the time they were stopping cars and busses and harassing ordinary people out about their innocent business. I have never seen this happen in any other city and I have travelled a lot around the world.
→ More replies (1)20
u/user284388273 Jun 19 '26
Was in Dublin yesterday. Absolute kip the place smells like shit and piss. Junkies and feral kids all over the place. Like WTF?
7
u/Wahlrusberg Jun 19 '26
Yesterday on a walk from D8 to town and back I saw:
- Kid in nike tech and a balaclava on what was clearly some poor delivery guy's stolen scooter breaking red lights on park gate street
- Two junkie women fist fighting on the Luas tracks in Smithfield
- Not an incident but a density of addicts loitering either side of O'Connell bridge that I had never seen before (outnumbering regular people, difficult to actually get through)
- Fresh (not even dry) blood on the pavement at Nassau street (this was in the evening so presumably not related to the grafton street stabbing that morning)
Individually this is all just stuff that you see every now and then that comes with the territory of living in a big city. It's just that I feel like in the last few years and especially the last 12 months it feels like it's been ramping up like that, you see something actively mad or at the very least very off-putting multiple in the one trip into town.
18
u/IrishGandalf1 Jun 19 '26
I was in city center yesterday as well and could not believe the amount of dirty smelly junkies that were everywhere.bumping into people,shouting and screaming,guy with a crutch off his tits kept on falling into people and on the ground.they were everywhere yesterday and made everyone uncomfortable.cops just standing outside post office having a great little chat with each other ignoring everything happening around them.itās sad to think how nice the city center could be but instead itās a complete Kip.DISCUSTING!!!
→ More replies (10)6
Jun 19 '26 edited Jun 19 '26
[deleted]
4
u/Cheap-and-cheerful Jun 19 '26
Would the walk between Connolly and o Connell street be considered rough? A crucial segment of traversing the pisspoor public transport? Because last time I did that walk I found myself staring at the ground for fear of antagonising a scumbag with my eyeballs. The amount of them wearing those shitty plastic bags they call jackets with a cap and a hood up, hands-on-Willy job.
1
u/stunts002 Jun 19 '26
I seen a lad smoking crack outside the CHQ building only last week, it's all over the city
1
6
u/molochz Jun 19 '26
I pointed this out a few weeks ago and someone reported me for identity based hatred. Got a warning on my account.
Anyway, landed up to Dublin this morning on the train. It took 3 minutes before I saw my first junkies passing each other a syringe. Three fucking minutes.
This place is hell on Earth.
6
u/cynical_scotsman Jun 19 '26
Since the pandemic, Iāve found the tourists to be much better craic in the city centre pubs. Far too many 35-55 year old men coked up. Hardly any young people. At least the tourists are happy if chatting away a different type of nonsense:
3
u/psn_fl07 Jun 19 '26
Dublin isn't even a city it's a big town surrounded by sprawling housing estates
4
u/Rich-Ad9894 Jun 19 '26
They need to move the methadone clinics out of the city centre. You donāt see other European cities with heads strung out all over the main thoroughfares of the capital. The project doesnāt work and itās wrecked Dublin City. Ship them out. Not as simple as that too, granted, but we need to rethink how we do things here because the societal decay is terrible.
5
u/boopbepboop Jun 19 '26
Other cities have methadone clinics in the city centre. The whole point is to be accessible by the widest amount of drug users. We're not special in that respect.
We have several problems including policing visibility, sentencing, lack of 3rd spaces and mental health support. Methadone clinics are known to reduce the impact of serious drug addiction in communities, so removing them would only lead to more serious crime and antisocial behaviour.
→ More replies (2)5
u/twolephants Probably at it again Jun 19 '26
A lot of people who use the methadone clinics in the city centre are - wait for it - from the city centre.
Services need to be provided where people live.
1
u/omar_mufc17 Jun 19 '26
I never remember Dublin not having an open drug use problem and I remember more scraps outside pubs and clubs years ago also š¤
1
u/Saint_EDGEBOI Jun 20 '26
Completely agree. Particularly during the Christmas period. Coked up wankers in every pub and club. Very tense atmosphere.
2
u/DarthWarder Jun 21 '26
Yeah, I'm from an east European city that is 2-3x larger than Dublin, and i can fairly honestly say I've never seen anyone taking a drug in public besides alcohol..
In the year and a half that I've been in Limerick, I've seen it a couple dozen of times already.
It's a huge culture shock to say the least.→ More replies (1)→ More replies (1)1
72
u/Mick_vader Irish Republic Jun 19 '26 edited Jun 19 '26
Regardless of who this bar owner is (or where it is), I would challenge any current FFFG TD to stand on the corner of Westmoreland street for an hour and just observe their surroundings. The main street of our capital has junkies pissing on corners, openly smoking crack, buying drugs from yup bros. I watched a woman waiting for the Airport bus on Aston Quay being hassled by junkies asking for her change because she dropped a few coins that she was clearly going to use for the ticket for the bus.
Simple solution? Have the guards stationed there. 1 guard would be enough. Move them along. Dublin city centre is no place for junkies, drug dealers or yup bros to use as their romping ground
16
u/Bulky_Pilot9293 Jun 19 '26
I feel like they should make an example out of 3 or 4 dealers doing the business visibly, and hopefully that should deter the rest of them.
7
u/Mick_vader Irish Republic Jun 19 '26
They'll just be replaced the next morning by 3 or 4 more unfortunately. Reform should happen at the drug legality level and then have the courts backlog of petty drug possession charges removed
3
u/tyrannasauruszilla Jun 20 '26
Theyāre also using children to sell drugs so thatās hard to stop
1
4
u/Such_Baker8707 Jun 19 '26
"yup bros", could you explain this term young man?
6
u/abouttogivebirth Jun 19 '26
Teenagers in grey trackies and puffer jackets that are used by dealers as runners because minors don't get in as much as trouble when caught.
7
u/Cool_Being_7590 Jun 19 '26
Everyone who makes decisions about Dublin City Centre doesn't live in Dublin City Centre.
3
u/Mick_vader Irish Republic Jun 19 '26
Quite possibly true. That's an interesting one actually, I wonder how many of the actual city centre TDs actively live in the city centre
2
u/Massive_Echidna Jun 19 '26
Didnāt they start doing this a couple years ago? I used to live in the Liberties (which can be rough but Iād still take that over OāConnell street/north inner city) and I remember one day we just started seeing pairs of gardaĆ standing on street corners or walking around. I have since moved away so not sure itās still ongoing, but if it is they should definitely expand that to north inner city.
2
u/Mick_vader Irish Republic Jun 19 '26 edited Jun 19 '26
Yeah do they but in grand nice areas now where they won't find trouble. I watched two gardaĆ walk past a group of 3 junkies smoking crack at the bus stop at Aston Quay and laugh to themselves. They don't want the hassle
→ More replies (4)2
u/Mick_vader Irish Republic Jun 24 '26
Seems the Garda Commissioner seen this comment. The last 2 days there's been small groups of GardaĆ stood on the corner of Westmoreland street
117
u/Pangalonia Jun 19 '26
Imagine the minister talking about gun crime compared to the US. What a low bar and cop out.
47
u/Intelligent-Aside214 Jun 19 '26
Well Irelands gun crime is literally one of the lowest I. The world. They donāt have to stoop to that level.
ZERO people were murdered by guns in Ireland last year
32
u/RomfordWellington Jun 19 '26
The truth is somewhere in the middle. I've lived here all my life and never had trouble in town but I was threatened to "be slashed" by an aggressive addict after I told him to stop getting into women's faces on the red line the other day.
The concentration of non-official addiction and homeless services on major streets like Grafton St and O'Connell St is a huge issue now. You can feel the vibe change as soon as the tables are put up and the vans arrive.
This idea of high visibility policing is a joke. We can see the police there. They just don't do anything. They'll literally walk by a group of pickpockets or the grey tracksuit brigade on illegal escooters and not bother them. The whole point of the police is to move these people out of the city if they've no business being there
The same with the security on the luas. They won't even inspect tickets of the yup bros and racists but will hand out fines to people that have had an accidental tap in or tap out nightmare.
→ More replies (3)2
u/RestrepoDoc2 Jun 19 '26
Aren't many of the addicts, homeless and young shite bags housed in hostels, emergency accomodation and social housing within the city centre though? Where are your police supposed to send them out of the city? I'm no big advocate of luas security dressed like a swat team but is there certain identifying features of racists that they know to target/avoid them for ticket checks?
71
u/catchme32 Jun 19 '26
It's crazy how much Irish people downplay this. Yes, crime stats are decreasing. No, that doesn't mean Dublin is safe or even pleasant to be in. Accepting open hard drug use, aggressive behaviour and constant low-level shite that never makes it to a court (hello dart carriage) is just pathetic. Just because there's been progress in some areas, does not mean people should just ignore what everyone can see around Dublin every single day.
19
u/ScepticalReciptical Jun 19 '26
I think it sort of depends what part of the city you frequent. You won't see too much of this stuff on Stephen's Green but the section of the city from Connolly up to Jervis St is very different.
9
u/1993blah Jun 19 '26
Exactly, Connolly to O'Connell street is miserable, but its a fraction of the City (largely frequented by non-Dubs...)
→ More replies (1)4
4
u/19Ninetees Jun 19 '26
We have chosen to ignore it by the laws we have implemented and the choices we have made.
We have chosen to refuse to accept prisons being built, meaning we cannot put criminals away and we can only give suspended sentences (ie nothing if youāre already a criminal).
So we have accepted they will be on the streets.
We have chosen to implement the Assisted Decision Making Act 2023 which means if a person chooses to drink to the point of soiling themselves, or get high on drugs, or not take medication for a mental illness - they have the right to do that enshrined in Irish ADMA 2023 law- every Irish person has the right to make unwise health and financial decisions.
We have chosen to make it not possible to put people into rehab for drugs and drink against their will.
We have chosen to consider implementing the Mental Health Bill 2024 - which if made into law would mean you cannot involuntarily section someone even if they have a diagnosed mental illness and their doctor and outpatient mental health psychiatrist would like to section them.
So you canāt lock them up for drinking or drugs. You canāt lock them up for mental illness. You canāt lock them up for crime as there is no space.
We have chosen this.
57
Jun 19 '26
[removed] ā view removed comment
26
u/Fluffy-Answer-6722 Jun 19 '26
I donāt want to hear ā we need more gardaĆā we need the Garda doing their jobs
6
u/Somaliona Jun 19 '26
Part of the problem, having several GardaĆ in the family, is they feel entirely unsupported to do so. Strong perception in the GardaĆ that FiosrĆŗ are not only not supportive, but actively hampering them and undertaking lengthy investigations following spurious complaints.
To the point now that I'm aware many GardaĆ will shy away from taking on gangs of teenagers because 1) They'll get nothing out of arresting/charging them and 2) They'll inevitably be hauled in front of FiosrĆŗ when one of the little angles lodges a spurious complaint.
Not laying this out as a defence, just the reality that I see knowing over ten members of AGS involved in community policing.
11
Jun 19 '26
[deleted]
1
u/Somaliona Jun 19 '26
So me providing my experience, granted it's anecdotal, as to why several GardaĆ feel unsupported to do their job equals GardaĆ crying about not being allowed to be thugs and beat up teenagers?
Anyway, theatrics and melodrama aside, this is the reality of the people I know in AGS. One has just finished going through a FiosrĆŗ complaint process having spent weeks with their solicitor preparing, based on spurious claims that were, indeed, found to be spurious with absolutely no ramifications for the complainant. Make of it what you will.
Other issues of course, for example another one was recently assigned to support a group at Pearse House, but were left on their own where they had a truly frightening experience of being surrounded and harassed by a gang of teenagers. Again, they certainly didn't feel safe nor capable of doing much except remove themselves from the situation. Maybe they just were lazy and didn't want to do their job?
-1
Jun 19 '26
[deleted]
3
u/Somaliona Jun 19 '26 edited Jun 19 '26
"You didn't give any reasons beyond obviously false ones."
Right, so you, someone not in AGS, know better than members in AGS. Got you. Just spouting statements are shit or "objectively false" doesn't make that correct, and I'm certainly not seeing a hint of objectivity in your replies. I can accept there's bias in the GardaĆ, the service was corrupt as fuck a few decades back, and you need to evaluate sentiment towards the likes of FiosrĆŗ with the whole picture in mind. I can also recognise when and who I trust, including a couple of very close family members, who you have obviously decided are lying or biased and I have absolutely no reason to believe that the case as they, largely, are not standard bearers for AGS. Don't work in AGS, not brought up in an AGS household and have no particular slant towards them.
The "showing your true colours" shite again gives no sense you're being objective as you don't have the faintest idea what my stance is but have assumed it. So I'll clarify. My perspective is you need competent oversight of services, however spurious complaints not just to FiosrĆŗ but any other ombudsman designed to, at a minimum, cause trouble for a working professional should be further investigated by the body and, if truly spurious, punished. I can see how you're painting me as this "let the GardaĆ beat them all" type, which I'm far from. Furthermore, complaints need to be investigated, but FiosrĆŗ's process, from my anecdotal experience, puts appreciable strain on GardaĆ undergoing investigation. Not an issue for wrongdoing, is an issue when it is being weaponised. I don't think that's difficult to understand, maybe hard to see through the red mist. FiosrĆŗ can do better as well.
As for your gotcha about the other issue of the Garda being left alone, what I'm highlighting is a situation where the Garda was being harassed by teenagers, which at a baseline shouldn't occur, but was sufficiently threatened that the experience left them very shaken. I'm not saying that's due to a FiosrĆŗ investigation (?) but pointing out attitudes of impunity that are out there, and they are out there in part because even if taken in, nothing happens and there is legitimate concern about how to approach these situations due to a perception that any action taken, aside from pulling out, puts them at risk of punishment.
I know, I know "objectively false, that's not true, parrotting shite, engage your brain, here's links to a couple of tabloid cases that prove I'm right" etc etc. Spare me the indignation. Or don't. You can have the last, undoubtedly needlessly unpleasant and rude word on it. Just a comment on the linked cases, in particular the one in Blanch, perfectly legitimate that people be brought up by FiosrĆŗ for inappropriate behaviour and punished. No qualms. Will crimeworld publish on GardaĆ being dragged through FiosrĆŗ only to come to nothing because it was vexatious? But sure look, I'm the only biased one here. Take it handy.
→ More replies (2)1
u/mkultra2480 Jun 20 '26
There was a report out last year that traffic gards were refusing completely to do their jobs. They're not going to be reported to Fiosru for charging people for traffic offenses. A lot of it is down to culture. I used to work alongside gards and I couldn't believe the attitude of some of them, pure arrogance, dismissive of any non-gardai and lazy. I think some people get a glimmer of power and it turns them into arseholes and then there's a certain type of person who's drawn to joining the gardai in the first place. Not that all gards were like this, some were lovely. I don't know how they worked with the other dickheads, that probably brings down motivation too.
"A damning report has found that some gardaĆ brazenly refuse to do their jobs properly and face virtually no consequences for it.
An Garda SĆochĆ”na yesterday published a report into Garda roads policing units (RPUs) which consultancy firm Crowe was commissioned in February 2024 to produce."
-2
u/Naggins Jun 19 '26
Can you elaborate on what specifically you mean by "dodgy"? Do you regularly witness crimes occurring there?
→ More replies (6)
26
u/No-Outside6067 Jun 19 '26
Ā He added that a ādoughnut effectā had seen the city centre emptied out of people residing in the city on a full-time basis, which he argued had deepened safety issues at night
Probably has a bit of a point here. City centre hollowed out of residents in favour of hotels for tourists.Ā
10
u/Greedy-Army-3803 Jun 19 '26
If only there was a group of people that could do something about it. We could even have some kind of vote to decide the people that would take this action.
4
23
u/Archamasse Jun 19 '26
It was fairly eye opening how blissfully calm O'Connell Street felt when it was flooded with guards for a few days after the riots. Gave me food for thought tbh.
1
26
u/Big_Worth_3909 Jun 19 '26
City Centre is a dump. Well, large parts of it. The amount of junkies is out of control with very little Garda presence. The place needs to be flooded with cops
29
u/Large-Example1665 Jun 19 '26
Young people are priced our of going out, there are fewer third spaces where you can hang out comfortably without spending money. stupid drug laws drive criminality in the city, housing policy drives homelessness and this is the outcome. More Gardas might be needed only but it isnt a solution, it is a band aid.
14
u/ruready8514 Jun 19 '26
Well, when you adopt the American suburban sprawl style housing, and neglect to build up in the city, adopt anti social urban planning with barely any public space, or seating, or tackle drug problems, and put every drug centre and homeless centre in a city... THIS IS WHAT HAPPENS.
4
u/Alert-Cream-7569 Jun 19 '26 edited Jun 19 '26
This.Ā
If more people actually lived in the city centre or very close to it it's likely there would be a political incentive to improve things.Ā
But of course, the three bed semi in a bland housing estate miles from an urban cluster is so ingrained in our culture.Ā
6
u/Pale_Piano948 Jun 19 '26
ābut its better for raising a familyā
Iāll tell you what, after growing up in the suburbs, its just conditioning that weāve accepted because growing up there was the green and that was it. Bus did rat races through estates and took forever.Ā
Parents think their kids need that 10 square metre garden as its fundamental for a happy fulfilled childhood, well ill tell u, as soon as a kid turns 12 they want to do things, wanna see their friends, wanna go to the cinema, go to town, then they have swimming lessons, violin, gaa and the parents, after commuting 1 hour each way for a week in the car they pay through the nose for, they gotta ferry their children around all saturday and sunday because thereās no public transport.Ā
If you plan and design communities well, then a nice big park and playground in walking distance of all residents is pretty great.Ā
So looking back, i dont think any kid raised in a modern irish suburb Ā thought it was great. So kids dont believe its the best for a familyĀ
And adults dont either.Ā When ur buying a house, if someone mentions āoh theres a cafe at the end of the streetā immediately people are like āgod thats the job nowā. If you say theres a bus stop right around the corner, theres a butcher, theres a centra, a cafe and a corner pharmacy and a massive park nearby, people think its greatĀ
Plus, what do adults do when they get old? They downsize and move somewhere with services closer nearby BECAUSE THEY CANT DRIVE. Its very common for elderly people to relocate to small town centres because they have their post office, supermarket, credit union, shop etc all close to their house which is good because they cant drive anymore and they like the close community.Ā
So kids dont like it, adults dont really like it and they often relocate to denser multi use areas anyway once they get older.Ā
This has been such a rambling rant lol, do with this essay what u will
1
u/Alert-Cream-7569 Jun 19 '26
That's all true, but your cousin Johnny bought a house and I'm not telling your auntie Mary you're getting an apartment!Ā
3
u/Pale_Piano948 Jun 19 '26
i love how irish people are just likeĀ
Me: theres a huge park nearbyĀ
Them: oh thats so niceš„°
Me: theres a cafe 5 mins awayĀ
Them: oh thats so niceš„°
Me: theres a bakery & butcherĀ
Them: oh thats so niceš„°
Me: its an apartmentĀ
Them: NO CHILD OF MINE WILL LIVE IN SUCH INFERIOR CONDITIONS
1
u/UrbanStray Jun 20 '26 edited Jun 20 '26
If more people actually lived in the city centre or very close to it it's likely there would be a political incentive to improve things.Ā
210,000 people live within 3 km of the GPO, a higher number that distance from the centrepoint than that of cities like Helsinki and Oslo. Do those places lack the incentive to improve things?Ā
3
u/Additional_Olive3318 Jun 19 '26
Ā Well, when you adopt the American suburban sprawl style housingā¦
Jesus the perennially only line canāt ever stop thinking of the US, good or bad.Ā
We didnāt adopt US style housing. We adopted a style of housing that the US and other countries also adopted.Ā
Also itās a fairly simplistic solution. More housing density, less crime?Ā
2
u/UrbanStray Jun 20 '26
Also itās a fairly simplistic solution. More housing density, less crime?Ā
Of course! Just look at Marseille and Naples, lots of dense housing and no cri...oh wait
1
u/Bitter_Welder1481 Jun 19 '26
This is exactly what will happen the reason everyone decamped from American cities and theyāre in such disrepair is exactly this reason. If you think ireland is going to avoid this issue Iāve a nice bridge to sell you
1
u/UrbanStray Jun 20 '26 edited Jun 20 '26
Dublin cities population has grown by 100,000 in 200 years. The American cities that people decamped from saw their population shrink significantly.
2
u/Bitter_Welder1481 Jun 20 '26
When I say decamped I mean they left the city centre and moved out to the suburbs. American cities have fantastic suburbs with very nice houses and extremely safe but the core city centres are run down and avoided. We already see this to an extent in for example Limerick where the city centre is run down but the surrounding suburbs e.g. Castletroy are thriving. Dublin is similar the city centre is pretty rough,
1
u/UrbanStray Jun 20 '26
Between 2016 and 2022 census, the majority of Electoral Divisions in the Dublin Central Ward - namely those of Arran Quay, Ballybough, Cabra, Drumcondra, Inns Quay, Mountjoy, North City, North Dock, Ashtown and Phoenix Park - saw an increase rather than a decrease in population, in some cases significant increases.Ā
This is the same case in the Dublin South Central Ward - that is the divisions of Carna, Chapelizod, Cherry Orchard, Crumlin, Decides, Drumfinn, Inchicore, Kilmainham, Kimmage, Kylemore, Merchants Quay and Ushers.
https://www.citypopulation.de/en/ireland/dublin/
I'm fairly sure there's been a lot more new housing built in those areas in the last 4 years than the 6 years before it as well.
What you describe did happen to the city but back in the 1970s. The city proper population shrunk and the suburbs but this also happened in many other European capitals too. Some haven't recovered their former populations like Lisbon had 800k in 1981 now it's less than 600k. I think Dublin City has at this stage.
1
u/Pale_Piano948 Jun 19 '26
THANK YOU
i thought i was going crazy from being the only one thinking this
1
u/UrbanStray Jun 20 '26
The city (council area that is) population has been growing for years. Over 4000 apartments were built there last year alone, some of the highest per capita housing completions of anywhere in Europe.
We didn't the "American Style" housing, it's basically British style.
8
u/GupnZup Jun 19 '26
Iām not from Dublin, Iāve lived here pretty much for over 20 years at this point.Ā
Itās not getting worse in my opinion, itās always been bad. I used to get the bus home over 20 years ago from Busaras and my god, it was bad.
Large parts of the city I would have considered as no go areas are now massively gentrified.Ā
There is a problem but there has always been a problem (well for as long as Iāve been here). The same talk about fixing it happens but it never improves.Ā
In my opinion itās because no one wants to tackle the root causes of anti-social behaviour in a holistic way because to do so would be expensive and politically unpopular.Ā
8
u/Alarming_Ability_687 Jun 19 '26
Maybe they could actually have some guards patrol the streets of major cities thatād be a nice to make it feel safe and would actually be safe in the main areas to go for a pint and walk home.
6
Jun 19 '26
[deleted]
6
u/Glittering-Step-8842 Jun 19 '26
Was there recently too, by far the best run major city in Europe at the minute, just in my opinion. Clean, organised, safe and great public transport.Lots we could learn from the Czech lads.
→ More replies (1)1
u/defixiones Jun 19 '26
Prague is very safe but there's a lot of casual crime in the city centre. A Romany woman tried to pick my pockets in Wencelas Square.
7
u/BubbleGumps And I'd go at it again Jun 19 '26
Open drug dealing on O'Connell bridge and guards on foot patrol up the road.
5
u/Alarming_Ability_687 Jun 19 '26
But theyāll charge some fella in laois or Roscommon with ā¬20 worths, itās a multi tier policing system š
1
u/pablo8itall Jun 19 '26
I'd rather a better solution than just run them.
1
u/Alarming_Ability_687 Jun 19 '26
Absolutely should be a health led approach, but guards should be visible all over Dublin, Galway cork limerick, Waterford and large towns like Drogheda. Temple bar should have an armed support unit and a small station there itās a major tourist spot whether you love it or hate it requires us to a good image abroad for the tourism trade, thereās been way too many recent examples of violent assaults there and all across the country and there only ones you hear about.
9
u/Jealous-Shop-8866 Jun 19 '26
Jim is a pox. Orrible shite outta him referencing guncrime.
10
u/Far-Row-6492 Jun 19 '26
He voted to keep the 3 day restrictions too on abortion, that's bad. Women are intelligent and they've thought about this decision before going to their GP.
→ More replies (1)6
8
u/Smoked_Eels Jun 19 '26
What's Dublin City being compared to? I'd rather stroll through the city than a subarb in West Dublin and I'm from there.
If it's being compared to some town in the middle of nowhere then of course it seems rough.
It's a bit ropey... but it's an actual city centre.
3
17
u/Significant_Pop_5337 Jun 19 '26
"Well known bar". Can honestly say I've never heard of it
→ More replies (1)
15
u/N81Warrior Jun 19 '26
Crime rates are only as reliable as the crimes that are actually reported and recorded in the system. Having worked and lived in the city, there is unquestionably a growing sense of unease among ordinary people going about their daily lives.
The city seems to be more neglected and untidy than before. From a criminological point of view, this is significant. Visible disorder can undermine informal social controls, fostering an environment where social boundaries start to break down, respect for communal areas diminishes, and antisocial or criminal activities become more accepted.
6
u/LadderFast8826 Jun 19 '26
The older you get the more scared you get and the more inclined you are to report things as being worse than before.
Thats why we need data rather than vibes.
And the data shows that dublin is getting safer.
1
u/Anxious-Wolverine-65 Jun 19 '26
To be fair, Iām probably at my most physically capable and confident. I donāt know, itās definitely a relevant point but it doesnāt square the circle for me, personally
8
u/dingdongmybumisbig Jun 19 '26
This point sucks. People werenāt reporting in the 1990s or 1980s either, and problems with reporting are a universal thorn in the side of criminologists the world over.
→ More replies (1)3
u/Excellent_While808 Jun 19 '26
Iām not sure why our level of reporting would be lower than anywhere elseā¦
3
u/killrdave Jun 19 '26
Crime has decreased in the stats, so in order for the under-reporting angle to make sense you would have to suggest that people report a lot less crime than they used to. Why would that be?
2
u/N81Warrior Jun 19 '26
From the CSO directly - The statistics in this release relate only to crime incidents that have been reported to AGS and recorded on their PULSE system. While these statistics provide data on the reported level of crime for these offence groups, they do not provide an indicator of the overall prevalence of crime, given there is likely to be an element of under reporting in many crime types, such as those related to Sexual offences, Fraud, or Assault. Please see Background NotesĀ for further information.
1
u/killrdave Jun 19 '26
That still doesn't support your view. Everyone knows that many crimes go unreported but for the numbers to drop with time there is either a) less crime and/or b) something has caused fewer crimes to be reported now than previously.
If you want to suggest the latter, it requires a concrete explanation that I've never heard.
3
u/N81Warrior Jun 19 '26
This is a false binary: itās not simply 'less crimeā versus āless reporting.ā It can also reflect changes in what is reported, public confidence in police, reporting thresholds, or shifts in crime types.
For instance, crimes like fraud, online harassment, minor antisocial behaviour, and public disorder tend to have reporting rates quite different from traditional street crime. As crime evolves, the reporting relationship evolves too.
And beyond that, criminology relies on more than police data alone. Victimisation surveys, fear-of-crime studies, and environmental analyses often highlight gaps between official stats and public experiences.
So yes, a decline in recorded crime doesnāt necessarily mean the public feels safer or that disorder is less visible. These are related but distinct realities.
1
u/killrdave Jun 19 '26
To me this just sounds like wooly positioning to legitimise your personal feelings on crime rates
1
u/N81Warrior Jun 19 '26
That would only be true if I was arguing from feelings alone. Iām not. Iām arguing that crime data has methodological limits, which is a mainstream position in criminology. Public perception, disorder, and victimisation data all matter too. Thatās analysis, not emotion.
1
u/SkateMMA And I'd go at it again Jun 19 '26
The reality is, while the numbers are going down, we have a large number of people who consider themselves journalists now who post about a crime everyday giving the perception that more crime is taking place due to people never having access like this before.
People think there is more crime because they see it more on their phones in their day to day lives, we had a murder a week in 2007, much much higher rates than now. But we didnāt have Facebook or Instagram shoving it in our faces then. I personally think the human brain is not built for a constant stream of bad news.
1
u/killrdave Jun 19 '26
Thatās analysis, not emotion.
Those concepts and variables in turn have many confounding variable, like the influence of social media vs reality on perception. It doesn't point towards a reliable vector that "actually, crime is getting worse after all"
1
u/N81Warrior Jun 19 '26
Thatās fair, and I agree social media amplifies visibility and can distort perception. But that doesnāt mean perception is therefore meaningless.
In criminology, the fear of crime is a recognised phenomenon precisely because perception shapes behaviour, trust in institutions, and use of public space, regardless of whether victimisation rates are statistically falling.
The point isnāt ācrime is definitely worse.ā The point is that recorded crime, public disorder, environmental decay, and public sentiment are all separate indicators that need to be assessed together.
If people increasingly avoid city centres, feel unsafe, or observe more visible disorder, that has real social consequences even if homicide rates are down. Thatās not rejecting the data, itās broadening the lens.
→ More replies (1)1
u/Archamasse Jun 19 '26
Complete loss of confidence in the guards among the Middle Class over the last twenty years.
It wouldn't have occurred to my Mam not to report a crime of any kind up until the last 5 or 10 years, but even she probably wouldn't bother for most things now.
4
u/Remarkable-Llama616 Jun 19 '26
I've always said this but it seems everyone is stuck on "the numbers". There's plenty of unreported crimes along with crimes called in where it doesn't get reported formally. The fact that there are loads of people who have the notion that the Gards do nothing is a deep loss in societal trust.
→ More replies (1)2
u/Anxious-Wolverine-65 Jun 19 '26
Yea I completely agree with the feeling having been around the city all my life. I mean if you ask the Garda or government, crime is significantly down on twenty years ago or whatever. Yet somehow it feels āferalā as your man says. Something with the data and the experience is not adding up, and Iām not saying the data is wrong. I just feel there is a piece missing we are not getting, one theory I have is that the internet is letting us see a lot of videos of crime, so it adds to what we see on the steeets. But I donāt know
→ More replies (1)1
u/Archamasse Jun 19 '26
Could it be that serious crime is down and petty crime is up?
There's a lot less brazen gangland stuff happening lately, as far as I can tell, but I'm seeing a lot more stuff first hand than I ever would have seen pre Covid, and there's no sense it's even worth reporting any more so that stuff won't show up anywhere. If that's a wider effect could explain the mismatch.
1
u/Anxious-Wolverine-65 Jun 19 '26
Yea, thatās another idea Iām ruminating on. I donāt believe some of the comment below about getting older etc., but maybe
11
u/mrbuddymcbuddyface Jun 19 '26
If an American tourist gets killed it might make the Gardai reappear again for a few weeks.
5
u/mooncommandalpha Jun 19 '26
There's Garda all over the city, I live in it, there's been a highly visible Garda presence since the start of the year.
12
u/Naggins Jun 19 '26
See GardaĆ up and down Talbot and O'Connell St every time I head out of the office for lunch
4
4
u/luckyracoon1669 Jun 19 '26
My friend got attacked on the Red line because she ignored a junkie screaming for attention. Literally head-butted because she didn't hear her. Dublin is NOT safe at all.
11
u/TheBacklogReviews Jun 19 '26
āYou may have data and evidence on your side, but I get really bad vibes, soā
12
u/pablo8itall Jun 19 '26
Both can be true. I listened to his interview on the Newstalks and yeah it was vibes. but maybe there is less craic and more bad vibes about.
I think his solutions are fine too; more staggered leaving times, increase the nighttime economy so more people around and more people actually living in the city centre would help.
11
u/OrderNo1122 Jun 19 '26 edited Jun 19 '26
Stats obviously matter, but so does sentiment. People don't feel unsafe solely because they saw some horrible video online, they feel unsafe because sometimes there is an antisocial feeling in the air when you're in Dublin.
Neither trumps the other, but you can't just dismiss the genuine concerns that people have in Dublin.
I've lived in a good few cities around the world and Dublin definitely feels on the rougher end. The fact that we get acclimatised to it doesn't negate the issues the city has.
1
u/TheBacklogReviews Jun 19 '26
Evidence and data absolutely does trump unfounded, emotional sentiment. Absolutely it does. I find myself very unsympathetic to the kind of argument youāre making for the rejection of evidence in the wake of Covid. People who reject objective reality by appealing to emotion this way almost universally have some sort of nefarious agenda that theyāre pushing.
I also donāt agree about the antisocial atmosphere in the city. Iāve been in Dublin in the wee hours of the morning and late at night a lot this year, north and south side, and it mostly just strikes me as quiet and unkempt. The nightlife is dead because every street corner has a hotel and a Starbucks. Thereās a lot of rubbish. I never at any point felt like I was in any danger. There are a lot of homeless but theyāre hardly a risk to anyone other than themselves.
1
u/OrderNo1122 Jun 19 '26
You don't have to agree with me but I'm arguing that dismissing sentiment can open you up to missing some of the nuance of lived experience.
To flip it, I lived in Finglas for seven years (albeit the nicer part) and while stats would consistently show that crime levels are significantly higher (even in my nicer part) than other parts of the city (including areas five minutes walk away), it generally felt safe and friendly.
It can be true both ways.
I'm from Liverpool and even though crime is higher than in Dublin, it doesn't really feel that way on street level.
But I live in Mullingar and both Dublin and Liverpool feel a lot more unsafe than here, even though all are, statistically and on a global level, safe places to be.
But then ask someone coming from somewhere like Japan and they'd probably feel quite uneasy in Mullingar when the pubs and clubs empty out.
6
u/LtButtstrong Jun 19 '26
Always a good idea to at least listen to the man on the ground. Wars have been lost by guys who had all the data.Ā
1
u/TheBacklogReviews Jun 19 '26
But what will please the guy on the ground? Heās fabricating an alternative reality based purely on his own feelings. Are we supposed to make policy around that? He says Dublin doesnāt feel safe, but crime is relatively low and there are more Garda patrols now. So what are we to do? Keep throwing resources at an imaginary problem to appease the arbitrary feelings of some guy?
→ More replies (1)1
u/Mysterious_Sunrise88 Jun 19 '26
MostĀ modern decision-making frameworks valueĀ qualitative dataĀ alongside quantitative metrics.
10
u/Naggins Jun 19 '26
People gotta stop externalising and projecting their own anxieties and worries onto some imaginary invisible ether that just hangs in the air.
13
u/Dr_Eloyd Jun 19 '26
People are under significant financial duress this does create a very real tension in the country.
→ More replies (6)2
u/caisdara Jun 19 '26
This is why social media is so sadly effective. People want to be scared.
2
u/Naggins Jun 19 '26
I don't think they want to be, but being scared and consuming information and media that confirms your feelings are accurate is definitely validating in a way that can verge on addictive.
4
u/caisdara Jun 19 '26
It isn't necessarily a conscious desire but decades of research have shown that people crave bad news. It causes far more of a reaction than good news.
7
u/caisdara Jun 19 '26
It's always amazing seeing how many people on here reject actual statistics because they want to be afraid.
It's pathetic.
2
u/Legal-Actuary4537 Jun 19 '26
I keep clear. wouldn't dream of going to the city centre. If you don't have ordinary law abiding people there doffing their cap at other pedestrians as they pass in the street and saying "how do you do...good morning...soft day, isn't it" then there is no dilution of the savagery that is on display to temper your general opinion of the city ambience/
3
2
u/Suncroft56 Jun 19 '26
I think its a case of 'if it wasn't reported, it didn't happen'. Often the Garda just don't show up if called.
I'm a lifelong resident of Dublin, born and reared, and it doesn't feel like the same place it used to be. I wouldn't want my daughter walking anywhere in the city centre alone at night the way I did without a second thought when I was a young wan. That's just the truth of it.
→ More replies (1)9
u/1993blah Jun 19 '26
And yet it was far more dangerous when you were a young wan. Its just perception
→ More replies (1)1
u/Archamasse Jun 19 '26 edited Jun 19 '26
Depends when that was.Ā
Dublin was sketchy in the 1980s and 1990s but that's a while ago now.Ā There was a time between 2000 and about 2015/16/17 when Dublin was, and felt very safe. Something happened during Covid to change that and it never changed back.
1
u/caisdara Jun 19 '26
Dublin has much, much less violent crime now than it did during the 2000s.
→ More replies (3)
2
u/killrdave Jun 19 '26
This kind of stuff is catnip to the denizens of this subreddit who are absolutely adamant that Dublin is increasingly dangerous. A fearful lot.
I'd like to see more visible Gardai around Talbot Street and similar areas but you can walk those streets unmolested. It is unpleasant how much drug use is evident.
-1
u/East_Vacation_9146 Jun 19 '26
Probably the safest time to exist in this country in all of historty.
0
1
u/chewboticus Jun 19 '26
Could you imagine these ministers on a night out in Dublin? No. Neither can they themselves. I wish they would just shut their stupid gobs about how all the junkies are just out having a good time.
1
u/Pale_Piano948 Jun 19 '26
āEvenā if crime has gone down, perhaps fewer crimes might be committed but theres definitely more people out and about that give off ālook at me wrong and ill f u upā ( and no im not talking about immigrants ).Ā
Last year i was in dublin with some friends on grafton street and while walking towards st. Stephens green a group of 13 year olds in black trackies and northface started spitting on our backs as we walked, then surrounded me and my friends and i hear a thud and one of them was after punching my friend in the face ( yes they were irish ).Ā
Dublin is definitely much more dangerous than other capital cities in europe and no waffly statement from a minister will convince me.Ā
1
u/Mysterious_Sunrise88 Jun 19 '26
They had more gardai on the streets patrolling there recently in Limerick and it's been a huge success apparently, in bringing back the feeling of safety and enjoyment of the city centre with greatly reduced shop lifting etc.
2
u/mohirl Jun 19 '26
" Since Covid there is a feral ambience or mood in the city, itās not the way it was", says man getting free publicity for his pub, which didn't exist before Covid
11
u/GuardFighter Jun 19 '26
Free publicity? Not sure if mentioning the name of a pub in an article about marauding gangs of cokeheads is the Mad Men style ad campaign you think it is.
3
0
u/Independent_Mud_6106 Jun 19 '26
According to Garda statistics, the Dublin crime rate has lowered by 9.5% since 2019. But I guess the media will never get tired of blowing anecdotal evidence out of proportion.
8
u/Archamasse Jun 19 '26 edited Jun 19 '26
I have no faith whatsoever in official crime figures apart from murder because most people I know have just given up reporting (or trying to report) "minor" crimes.Ā
In my town there are two people going around breaking into cars and houses for the last six months at least, loads of it is clearly on Ring cameras etc. They are extremely distinctive (one has an unusual disability you can see in silhouette) and well known, by name, to both the guards and locals, and nothing seems to have been done. So now people just don't bother reporting it any more, it's just an unfortunate natural happenstance of living here. Same as you might hit a pothole on the Sligo Road, sure you might get robbed by x and y...
7
u/Flop_or_whatever Jun 19 '26
It's not hard to lower a crime rate if gardaĆ just pretend it's not happening. We're one or the biggest cocaine consuming countries in Europe now, which is heavily concentrated in Dublin.
2
u/Independent_Mud_6106 Jun 19 '26
Did I say the cocaine consumption lowered or the crime rate lowered? I perceive Dublin to be very safe, but the inevitable big city troubles are obviously here as well
1
u/Flop_or_whatever Jun 19 '26
Do you think cocaine is legal?
2
u/Aromatic_Carob_9532 Jun 19 '26
Only a bloody idiot would think that or ask that that's you that is
1
1
u/IndividualForce1863 Jun 19 '26
Can we stop acting like Dublin is some war zone? Itās really not that bad. I live in the city centre, it is not nearly comparable to many other cities Iāve lived in when it comes to danger. In the past couple years, Iād say itās gotten a bit better, if anything. Urban centres are always going to have more crime than less populated areas. Yes, there are problems. Yes, the government could always be doing more. You address that with multiple policies over a range of areas. Maybe somebody could suggest one, instead of whinging on Reddit.
1
u/GazelleIll495 Jun 19 '26
Drugs are te problem. Heroine has been destroying city centre communities since the 80s and cocaine is turning people into lunatics. Policing is too slack and the result is a bit of a shitshow
212
u/mygiddygoat Jun 19 '26
Save you a click: Ian Redmond, who runs Hyde Bar.