TD says 'lawlessness' in Dublin has been problem for years in wake of attack
In Attacked Ie Was Picture: An Boal/rollingnews American Left Street Injuries Sam Dublin Where City And Talbot Serious With Tourist
A Fianna Fáil TD has said that "lawlessness" has been an issue for years in Dublin in the wake of another violent attack there earlier this week.
On Wednesday night, an American tourist was hospitalised after being punched and kicked in the head during an assault in Dublin city centre.
The attack was condemned as "thuggery" by the Justice Minister, while others noted the proximity of the attack to Store Street garda station, one of the largest in Dublin.
Fianna Fáil justice spokesperson Jim O'Callaghan pointed to a "recruitment crisis" in the gardaí as one of the main issues with violence.
He said: "If you look at Dublin in comparison to other European cities, one thing that stands out is that we don't have enough physical policing on the streets. In fairness to the gardaí, that's not predominantly their fault. We have a recruitment crisis in the force.
"We're down below 14,000 members. That's the same as we were 20 years ago. And we have a situation where the population has increased significantly since then. So we need as policy makers to introduce measures to get numbers in An Garda Siochana up so we can get more gardaí on the streets.
"It's very damaging not just for tourists, not just for the people coming in, but also for the people who live in the inner city. They shouldn't have to live with this level of lawlessness."
The tourist remains in intensive care in Beaumont hospital on Friday morning.
The leader of a major business group in Dublin has said that a number of initiatives need to be "brought back" to deal with the "aggressive" behaviour in the capital.
Richard Guiney is the CEO of Dublin Town, a group of businesses that work on promoting and creating a positive atmosphere in the capital.
He noted that they had "been there before" with violence, but that something desperately needed to be done.
Speaking to , Mr Guiney said that aggressive behaviour had increased since the pandemic.
“There certainly seems to be emerging evidence that people who came to adolescence during the pandemic didn't learn the processes of appropriate behaviour.
"And we also found, almost attention-seeking behaviour, some bizarre things where young folks were going into offices and refusing to leave meeting rooms. It just struck us as kind of attention-seeking.
"But there has been more aggressive behaviour. And the other issue is that the drug of choice has changed from heroin to crack cocaine, and that has given rise to more aggression."
Mr Guiney pointed to initiatives like the Small Areas Policing Scheme — saying it was "very successful" in dealing with similar issues in the past.
He explained: "That was where guards were assigned responsibility for particular parts of the city. That was a very good initiative.
"We had the best setting for where ourselves, the council, the guards, the drug services, the home services came together to coordinate what we were doing and examine the issues arising on a street-by-street basis, because the issues move around the city at various times and that was hugely successful."
Dublin Town, he said, tracks the perceptions of safety in the city.
He said that it was "high time" the initiative was brought back, but warned that it was not the only thing needed to fix the problems.
"It's not only a policing issue. I think we also need to consider the very high levels of concentration of social services within the core city and particularly around the Talbot Street area."
He added: "We do need to bring back what we were doing that was successful. We've been advocating for doing the right thing for a number of years. And I'm very disappointed that some of the things that were working ceased to be implemented."