STREETS OF FEAR | 

Minister admits he ‘wouldn’t walk’ in parts of Dublin at night due to anti-social behaviour ,Live scenes as Helen McEntee arrives in Temple Bar to reassure public Dublin is safe:

“Many people don’t feel safe in our city and we need to acknowledge that,” Jack Chambers TD said

Tue 25 Jul 2023 at 08:42 UP DATED BY WATCHROOT AUGUST 2023

Minister for State Jack Chambers has said he would not feel safe walking through parts of Dublin city at night.

The Fianna Fail TD’s comments came after a number of his government colleagues – including Justice Minister Helen McEntee – had claimed the city is safe

However, speaking on Virgin Media’s The Tonight Show last night, Dublin West TD Jack Chambers said he would not advise people to walk through parts of Dublin at night.

“Many people don’t feel safe in our city and we need to acknowledge that.

“There are parts of Dublin city that I wouldn’t walk down, I wouldn’t advise anyone to walk down.

“There is that sense of fear among people, I’m not going to deny that.”

“I’m not going to deny people’s real lived experience in Dublin city. We have seen concerning levels of intimidation and a rise in assaults.

The assault of a 57-year-old American tourist on Talbot Street on Wednesday night has sparked a major debate on the safety of the capital’s streets.

Stephen Termini, from Buffalo in New York, remains in intensive care at Beaumont Hospital.

Yesterday, the Lord Mayor of Dublin has said an urgent response is needed to address the anti-social behaviour in the city centre in recent weeks.

Daithí de Róiste said the “number one message” is that there is a need for high visibility policing on the streets of Dublin.

Mr de Róiste is the chair of the city’s joint policing committee. He believes that Dublin is a safe city, but the perception is that it’s unsafe at the moment and there is a lot of “anti-social behaviour on the streets”.

“We have a real issue in terms of what’s happening on the streets of our capital city at the moment, and we need all the agencies but in particular the gardaí to do a lot more,” he told RTÉ’s Morning Ireland.

“We see these incidences in recent weeks and it’s simply not good enough and we need an urgent response to address this.

“There were 615 gardaí last month in Dublin North Central Division, so that’s one of the highest crime rates in the country.

“That’s 24 fewer than the start of the year and that’s a real, real issue in terms of what we had.

“Also, we hear over the past week that we’ve more guards coming out of Templemore. There are 222 recruits being sworn in but that’s versus 150 that retired and 59 that have resigned.

“So, there’s a net increase of about 13 guards, we need a lot more to make Dublin a much safer place both for people coming into the city from abroad but also for ordinary Dubliners coming in to enjoy the city.”

Mr de Róiste said removing the maximum recruitment age limit of 35 is “definitely something to be looked at”.

“Maybe we should start making it more enticing for people to go into An Garda Síochána to make a career out of it,” he said.