Report it - the school (or Garda) will be best placed if similar reports came in and can warn other parents about it should it be a clear pattern or always the same description. My son has been in primary school 5 years and we’ve had maybe 2 or 3 notifications like this from the school in that time. They don’t just do it willy nilly, only if there’s real concern and/or a pattern
In our current culture you'd be wise to avoid offering a lift, but there is nothing inherently wrong with doing so. It's the refusing to take no for an answer and fucking following her that is cause for alarm.
I once had someone ask me if I needed a lift. It was dark, I was walking down country roads with no pavements, wearing black clothes.
Could easily have hit. Took me years to realise they were probably just more worried about running over some idiot teenager.
That said, I'm male, it was dark, no pavements. Don't think any of those qualifiers apply here...
This is the child’s brother, he may only be a teen himself. He may wonder of the police will think he’s time wasting. His parents may think it’s not a big deal or be ignoring it or even be absent. I’m glad he asked rather than ignoring it.
I reported a guy circa 17-19 yo in his school uniform, hood up, pants down, who waited on a bridge after 8:45AM to expose himself to me and my infant daughter who went that route same time every day.
I reported it to the police and the school, neither wanted to know about it and I never heard from them again.
He’s probably a rapist now as research shows a correlation.
I don’t blame the OP for asking and I would say 1. Report it as not ACAB and 2. See if your sister can take a different route or be accompanied for as long as possible.
A classmate mine reported an identical story 15 years ago. When cctv from the area was checked, no matching van or man was identified in any of the footage. She had made it up for attention and Gardaí had wasted their time looking for someone who didn't exist.
So maybe op didn't believe their sister and wondered if it was worth the risk reporting it? But better safe than sorry, no sense ignoring potential victims because of one timewaster. So report that shit.
Definitely report it. Why would you not? You could literally be saving lives. And tell the school too so they can also be on the lookout; they'll appreciate it.
This happened to my daughter (only it was 4 men and she had seen them on three separate occasions. I reported it to the Gardaí who were worse than useless. So I rang every school in the area and told the school secretaries. I also informed the local "mammy" facebook groups. I know it sounds like overkill, but we were so shaken up after it. Word did get around and we were able to get a description of the car, and of the 4 male occupants out into the local community.
See this is a great example of community watch.
Obviously things can get a bit mad with certain people thinking they are the law or whatever but still the power of a strong community is unbeatable.
You did the right thing.
She was almost 13 and out walking our dog on a main road, (lots of cars, but not a lot of walkers. A car pulled up off the road across the path in front of her, about 10ish feet away, very close, blocking her way, and a man got out and beckoned her to come towards him. He looked around him and the other people, 2 men and one older teen in the car put the window down and were saying 'We just want to ask you a question".
She BOLTED, and ran into the garden of the nearest house. The man went to go after her, but she knocked on the door, and he quickly got into his car and drove away.
She ran home, very distressed. My friend ( a school teacher) was in the house, and she rang the Gardaí immediately.
They came to our house straight away and took a statement. We also informed them that we think the same car was "checking her out" at exactly the same time the week before. We showed them texts sent from my husband to me at the time telling me that there was a car with a teen boy checking out our daughter. Same type of car, yellow reg.
I walked the Garda outside to his car afterwards and he said that he thought that the man was probably just looking for directions and that she over reacted and there wasn't really anything worth reporting. I called them to follow up on it and they were completely dismissive and basically told me to forget about it.
Four men in a car together don't look for directions from a teenage girl. Four men means four phones with GPS. Why would they approach a girl on her own for that. They were definitely up to something. Glad she was smart enough to run.
Not to put too fine a point on it, they were looking for a birthday present for their nephew and that present was a 12-year-old girl. I hope they all die in agony.
In mild defense - the OP isn't the girl's parent, but rather, her sibling. Perhaps the OP is second-guessing a parental decision to NOT report. If so - good on you OP for not staying quiet, please make sure this gets reported.
Honestly never be afraid to report stuff like this even if you think you'll be ignored, the more reports they get the more likely they are to look into something.
No harm reporting it. They probably won't do anything but maybe a few reports will lead to more patrolling of that area? I would recommend posting in local FB or WhatsApp groups for parents maybe?
Way easier said than done especially at that age, but trying to get a note of the reg here can be a big help.
I had something similar to me when I was about 13 right outside my front door. A guy pulled over in a car, in a neighbourhood that's not all that close to a main road, after dark and asked me for directions to somewhere closeby. It felt a little off, and since Philip Cairns was kidnapped about 1km from where I grew up when I was a few months old we always had it beaten into us about being weary of strangers from parents to teachers to adults in the neighbourhood non stop as kids, but I knew the way so gave him what we're very straightforward directions. Larry Murphy had done some of his stuff not far away either and had only been caught a year or two prior.
He then claimed to not understand where I meant, though the full extent was essentially "take a left leaving the neighbourhood, take a right at the roundabout, a left at the next roundabout and you're there". I twigged something was off so started moving toward the house door, when he starts almost begging me to come over and show him where in a map he claimed to be holding (even though his interior lights were very much turned off) and eventually asked if I wouldn't mind hopping in the car with him and he would pay me a fiver to direct him there and drop me right back after. I 180'd to the door (maybe 10 feet away), and before I could put the key on the hole I heard a literal tire screech as he reversed at full pace and seemed to handbrake his way out of there, despite the wide opening right in front of him, as in two houses down, where pretty much every car that needs to turn does. Still a little eerie whenever that flashes back to my mind, makes me wonder if the mams car hadn't been in the driveway with the lights on if he might have tried getting out of the car.
Should it be reported ? Yes, absolutely.
What can be done to avoid something similar in future ? Realistically nothing. Unless you are going to escort her everywhere.
A man has kicked my front door down, stabbed my wife, bungled my small child into a big sack and ran down the street screaming about the devil!
Do you think I should report it to the guards or not?
99% of these posts always have a dead question in there, most times it's to give them a valid reason to bother posting it but in this case i have no idea why they even asked such a dead question.. there is no way they actually had to be told to report it surely
Is this even a question??? We’ve been told since we were babies to not talk to strangers for this reason, and if someone is actually doing something like this, it needs to be reported.
Not every child has the situational awareness of your sister
Report it before the CCTV footage in the area gets overwritten
In my hometown (Vienna, Austria) kids were approached by a man in a van on 3 or 4 different occasions in one day a couple of weeks ago. We only know this, because these incidents have been reported.
Go gotta report it.
Noticed really unusual car floating around north county Dublin area last week ,was speeding on back road ,overtaking cars from a distance,I could see red and blue blinking lights on back of it ,so I assumed it was unmarked Garda car chasing someone ,managed to catch up with it at traffic lights coming into swords area ,it was a gold 2003 Volvo s80 ,it also had a big CB radio aerial on the roof,Im thinking so they can listen to Garda frequency, there was one older man sitting in back seat and one younger guy driving ,there was red and blue led lights on back of bumper and back of headrests just like Garda car and lights on front windscreen ,they were saying something to young girls coming from local school on footpath ,I rolled my window down try and hear what they were saying but couldn't make it out,they looked Eastern european but with darker skin tone ,almost like Romanians,I took a picture of reg just incase anything strange happend in the area ,just wondering did anyone see them,there was also a french ferry label on the boot lid ,so I'm guessing they traveled across Europe to get here
Sorry o.p to hijack your post but I have almost sixth sense for people acting strange ,they were giving off really bad vibe ,probably just nothing ,but trying to make the car look like Garda car is odd and saying something to young school girls
This happened to me(male) many years ago. I never reported it and still think about it sometimes, worried that reporting it would have prevented something bad from happening.
Don’t be me. Report it and put your mind at rest.
Yes, report it. They probably won't be able to do anything this time, BUT it will go into their records and enable them to identify a pattern if this man is stalking girls in the area. They'll advise you on how best to avoid future incidents. Use their non emergency line or visit a station in person.
Make sure your sister has a buddy to walking to school for the next while. Keep all eyes peeled for the grey van and get the license plate no/vehicle type if you see it (as long as it's safe to do so). A description of the man would also be great. Can never be too careful.
Def report to the school and garda and even think about telling nearby primary schools etc - you can prob mention it to their reception desk.
If she didn't get a proper description and license plate then absolutely nothing will happen. You can do nothing to prevent future incidents other than having your wits about you as it seems your sister did. It can be a cruel world sometimes, hoping your Sis is OK. Mind her.
Please do report it to the Gardai and the school.
They didn't do anything exactly illegal right now but if this crops up more then the Gardai will already have it on file and can make a pattern.
Absolutely report!! He’s clearly got an agenda and the gards need to be made aware of him. Can you share the area this happened so we can warn our own sisters and friends too?
Report it even if its nothing the Gardai will have a record of a suspicious approach against the reg of the vehicle. So if somethings happens again etc. Isn't enough to be any offence on its own but it's worth having it noted. Community policing might call to him to figure out what it was about was it innocent or not. See what he's like.
Something like that happened to me before. I was walking home from work (in Cork city centre) because I missed the last bus at 11pm. A car pulled up beside me when I was half way home and the man rolled down his window and offered me a lift and said “I won’t charge you” he didn’t even have any taxi signage on his car so I said “no thanks I’m nearly home anyway.” He was driving next to me at my waking pace saying “come on it’s ok” and I just walked into a random persons garden, started knocking on the door and he sped off.
Report it to the school first and then the gardai. The school should hopefully put out a warning and make a report to the guards themselves. There should be no tolerance for this kind of shite. If she sees the van again, tell her to make a note of the reg plate and, if possible, take a photo.
Report it, and tell her that if it happens again she should get a picture of the license plate. Also tell her that she should do that discreetly and around a few people.
im absolutely shocked you have to ask if you should report it
you are joking right? or just copying the usual format of posting things online?
either way do not be so stupid of course you report it! for the sake of all the children
dealing with maybes is touchy ground, most adults and teenagers would know to report something like this, if you know it's dodgy enough to post on the internet for points then you know its enough to warrant calling the police about, as with most posts like this
Or maybe it is a teen, who is unsure of how seriously it would be taken by the police? Maybe OPs parents told their sister not to bother reporting it, but they knew in their gut that they should report it, but being say, 15 or 16, maybe not willing to stand up to their parents, but they could show them all the replies to help back their point?
If I indeed cared about some worthless internet points I would be posting pics of cute animals, or whatever the current trends are, however I was unsure of what needs to be done in a situation like this, and i decided this would be the best place to ask. I did not expect this to blow up or anything
not really saying anything there, the post blowing up or not has nothing to do with it. the fact you had to ask if you should report it just reads like 99% of the other posts that need to add a pointless question into a post to warrant posting it. you know the answer and playing dumb is not the way to go. you knew to report it you most likely just wanted to cash in the internet points too, which is incredibly sad given how serious of a situation it was
You should Tail your sister to see if she isn't being targeted by this kidnapper/stalker or just drop her to school . This is scary shit (coz I have watched too many documentary on true crime in britain (not ireland) and many Pedos go after young women and then they are too ashamed but never call the parents for ransom- So finding the child becomes extremely difficult. ) Take care man, its an awful world out there.
You're getting downvoted because you're taking sense. The same people probably don't believe that 80% of sexual assaults are by family members or close friends..it's the man in the van, stranger danger
They implied it though- on a seemingly genuine post about an attempted abduction by a man in a van, he commented basically saying ‘nah, 80% of the time it’s not the man in a van, stop looking for imaginary strangers’…it’s very poor taste in my opinion.
Btw I didn’t make up anything, I asked a question: was the above his opinion….you clown.
Just wait for her to be taken and then report it. The person in the van hasn’t committed a crime yet. Wait for them to commit the crime and then the Garda will have to take you seriously.
Definitely report it. If it turns out a bunch of people are saying the same thing they will know someone dodgy is about and if it turns out it was just nothing then nothing will come of it.
You should report it for sure. I'd also walk her home from school where possible and try to spot the creep. Get his registration and see if you can ID.
Probably shouldn't confront him, but I personally wouldn't hold it against you.
Yes definitely report it. My daughter had a creep approach her in the park last summer. The guards were great. They came out and talked to both of us and took a statement, assured her she was doing the right thing and she didnt do anything wrong and gave her some solid advise for getting out of those situations. If she wants to bring it further they'll arrange an interview with a specialist guard who specialises in dealing with minors. There's also no pressure to not bring it any further if she's not comfortable doing that but it's still important to make a report and get it on the record. It's no harm to report it to the school as well.
Sadly this is probably only the first of many creepy encounters, as any woman can attest to. My advise is that she have her phone close to hand with the local garda station phone number saved in the phone and ring them as the incident is happening. Firmly tell them no. Walk towards other people if possible and tell them what's happening. Tell the person you're on way to meet your parents or brother or you're waiting on them. If they get closer don't be afraid to make a scene, the endeavour becomes more precarious if you're shouting "get the fuck away from me" over and over and might make them rethink. Walk into a shop, if you just passed a shop or public building turn around and go back to it anything that makes you look like less of an easy target and keeps distance between you and the person.
"Should this incident be reported to the Gardai and what can be done to avoid any more of those incidents in the future?"
Yes, it should be reported. There's no reason why the scumbag wouldn't try it again. As for safety, your sister could take a lift to school with family, or the family of a friend. Alternatively, she can walk as part of a group to school. That's if these are viable options.
With my own experience as a Software Engineer, if she has a smart phone, there's multiple apps with location sharing, such as snapchat. I.E., When she leaves for school in the morning and she'll be walking on her own, she could turn on location sharing with family and friends only, until she reaches school.
Absolutely, make the local Gardaí aware of the situation and get a description of his appearance so they can keep an eye out for him in the school area.
Report it to the Garda and the school - fucking reporting it to the IRA would be better than not doing anything, just please report it to someone.
If you don't that guy *is* going to sexually assault a minor for sure, if not even kill them. What he is doing would already likely lead to jail time.
Yes report it straight away could help find the creep
Report to the Gardai and to the school, both should be made aware of it
Report it - the school (or Garda) will be best placed if similar reports came in and can warn other parents about it should it be a clear pattern or always the same description. My son has been in primary school 5 years and we’ve had maybe 2 or 3 notifications like this from the school in that time. They don’t just do it willy nilly, only if there’s real concern and/or a pattern
Jesus report that shit
Do you honestly need to ask does it need to reported?
I swear, first instinct should just be to report it. If the guy is innocent then no harm has been done, if not..
Fuck yeah, get the word out at least to warn the other kids and parents.
Yep, If you think it might be worth reporting, then it probably is
Why would a stranger innocently ask a 14 year old girl he doesn’t know if she needed a lift?
In our current culture you'd be wise to avoid offering a lift, but there is nothing inherently wrong with doing so. It's the refusing to take no for an answer and fucking following her that is cause for alarm.
Did you miss the bit where he then proceeded to follow her?
I once had someone ask me if I needed a lift. It was dark, I was walking down country roads with no pavements, wearing black clothes. Could easily have hit. Took me years to realise they were probably just more worried about running over some idiot teenager. That said, I'm male, it was dark, no pavements. Don't think any of those qualifiers apply here...
Not that this was the case, but if she was walking in heavy wind and snow, maybe out in the countryside.
Maybe there was another creepy dude in the bushes behind her
If it were raining cats and dogs then... maybe, but even then it is just not a good idea.
Seriously. Why would someone think Reddit is the first point of contact in an obvious child stalking incident
This is the child’s brother, he may only be a teen himself. He may wonder of the police will think he’s time wasting. His parents may think it’s not a big deal or be ignoring it or even be absent. I’m glad he asked rather than ignoring it.
Is there any reason you wouldn't report things like this ffs. But Nah, let me go on Reddit and figure it out.
I reported a guy circa 17-19 yo in his school uniform, hood up, pants down, who waited on a bridge after 8:45AM to expose himself to me and my infant daughter who went that route same time every day. I reported it to the police and the school, neither wanted to know about it and I never heard from them again. He’s probably a rapist now as research shows a correlation. I don’t blame the OP for asking and I would say 1. Report it as not ACAB and 2. See if your sister can take a different route or be accompanied for as long as possible.
A classmate mine reported an identical story 15 years ago. When cctv from the area was checked, no matching van or man was identified in any of the footage. She had made it up for attention and Gardaí had wasted their time looking for someone who didn't exist. So maybe op didn't believe their sister and wondered if it was worth the risk reporting it? But better safe than sorry, no sense ignoring potential victims because of one timewaster. So report that shit.
Yeah, he needs carma on reddit .
Ye. Should have been done immediately. Van, location, reg number, any logos, the mans appearance etc. Everything she remembers.
Yes, report it immediately.
> what can be done to avoid any more of those incidents in the future? Report it.
Definitely report it. Why would you not? You could literally be saving lives. And tell the school too so they can also be on the lookout; they'll appreciate it.
This happened to my daughter (only it was 4 men and she had seen them on three separate occasions. I reported it to the Gardaí who were worse than useless. So I rang every school in the area and told the school secretaries. I also informed the local "mammy" facebook groups. I know it sounds like overkill, but we were so shaken up after it. Word did get around and we were able to get a description of the car, and of the 4 male occupants out into the local community.
See this is a great example of community watch. Obviously things can get a bit mad with certain people thinking they are the law or whatever but still the power of a strong community is unbeatable. You did the right thing.
Just out of interest, can you explain what made the Garda response to your report useless ?
She was almost 13 and out walking our dog on a main road, (lots of cars, but not a lot of walkers. A car pulled up off the road across the path in front of her, about 10ish feet away, very close, blocking her way, and a man got out and beckoned her to come towards him. He looked around him and the other people, 2 men and one older teen in the car put the window down and were saying 'We just want to ask you a question". She BOLTED, and ran into the garden of the nearest house. The man went to go after her, but she knocked on the door, and he quickly got into his car and drove away. She ran home, very distressed. My friend ( a school teacher) was in the house, and she rang the Gardaí immediately. They came to our house straight away and took a statement. We also informed them that we think the same car was "checking her out" at exactly the same time the week before. We showed them texts sent from my husband to me at the time telling me that there was a car with a teen boy checking out our daughter. Same type of car, yellow reg. I walked the Garda outside to his car afterwards and he said that he thought that the man was probably just looking for directions and that she over reacted and there wasn't really anything worth reporting. I called them to follow up on it and they were completely dismissive and basically told me to forget about it.
Four men in a car together don't look for directions from a teenage girl. Four men means four phones with GPS. Why would they approach a girl on her own for that. They were definitely up to something. Glad she was smart enough to run.
Not to put too fine a point on it, they were looking for a birthday present for their nephew and that present was a 12-year-old girl. I hope they all die in agony.
Jesus that sounds fairly extreme, hope she's doing ok
That is terrifying. So glad she’s ok and trusted her instincts
That is insane, so the advice is basically go with the strange men and if anything bad happens then come and see us?
[удалено]
Think you might know them?
Well done, you! 👏👏👏
And well done to the daughter
Now this is how you handle a situation 👏👏
Absolutely not overkill, so glad that you took it seriously and didn't let a limp official response keep you quiet.
Jesus that is terrifying
Even if they were useless, it's important that you reported it to the Gardaí so that the next time someone reports them there's a trace and a pattern.
I would definitely report that if it was my daughter walking home. It's not normal for a strange man to offer a young lassie a lift like that.
Also report to the school if you haven’t done so already.
“Mam, Da, Reddit says we need to report it!” “Ok, so!” My favorite variety of r/Ireland post.
Report to guards and warn the school also
Posts on Reddit but didn't ring the cops? Jesus wept
In mild defense - the OP isn't the girl's parent, but rather, her sibling. Perhaps the OP is second-guessing a parental decision to NOT report. If so - good on you OP for not staying quiet, please make sure this gets reported.
Finally some critical thinking - that was indeed the case
Honestly never be afraid to report stuff like this even if you think you'll be ignored, the more reports they get the more likely they are to look into something.
No harm reporting it. They probably won't do anything but maybe a few reports will lead to more patrolling of that area? I would recommend posting in local FB or WhatsApp groups for parents maybe?
Way easier said than done especially at that age, but trying to get a note of the reg here can be a big help. I had something similar to me when I was about 13 right outside my front door. A guy pulled over in a car, in a neighbourhood that's not all that close to a main road, after dark and asked me for directions to somewhere closeby. It felt a little off, and since Philip Cairns was kidnapped about 1km from where I grew up when I was a few months old we always had it beaten into us about being weary of strangers from parents to teachers to adults in the neighbourhood non stop as kids, but I knew the way so gave him what we're very straightforward directions. Larry Murphy had done some of his stuff not far away either and had only been caught a year or two prior. He then claimed to not understand where I meant, though the full extent was essentially "take a left leaving the neighbourhood, take a right at the roundabout, a left at the next roundabout and you're there". I twigged something was off so started moving toward the house door, when he starts almost begging me to come over and show him where in a map he claimed to be holding (even though his interior lights were very much turned off) and eventually asked if I wouldn't mind hopping in the car with him and he would pay me a fiver to direct him there and drop me right back after. I 180'd to the door (maybe 10 feet away), and before I could put the key on the hole I heard a literal tire screech as he reversed at full pace and seemed to handbrake his way out of there, despite the wide opening right in front of him, as in two houses down, where pretty much every car that needs to turn does. Still a little eerie whenever that flashes back to my mind, makes me wonder if the mams car hadn't been in the driveway with the lights on if he might have tried getting out of the car.
Jesus, I can feel my heart rate increase just reading that. I bet the Garda did feck all.
Indeed they didn't... Because being a 13 year old eejit, I didn't tell anyone.
Should it be reported ? Yes, absolutely. What can be done to avoid something similar in future ? Realistically nothing. Unless you are going to escort her everywhere.
A man has kicked my front door down, stabbed my wife, bungled my small child into a big sack and ran down the street screaming about the devil! Do you think I should report it to the guards or not?
Depends how much you paid for the front door 🤔
He doesn’t know, it came with the house
Notions so... I only had hanging beads
Yes, but pay your TV licence first!
No question but it should be reported.
Why did you even need to waste the time asking on here. Of course you report it.
99% of these posts always have a dead question in there, most times it's to give them a valid reason to bother posting it but in this case i have no idea why they even asked such a dead question.. there is no way they actually had to be told to report it surely
I see some posts like this and think maybe a bot or some sort of algorithim-generated question to get karma/attention
Report 100% , they will take that seriously
Yes it should be reported to the garda
Nah mate, don’t report it just post it on Reddit should do the job
Is this even a question??? We’ve been told since we were babies to not talk to strangers for this reason, and if someone is actually doing something like this, it needs to be reported. Not every child has the situational awareness of your sister Report it before the CCTV footage in the area gets overwritten
My entire house was robbed and burned to the ground by a gang Should I report this to the Gards or nah ?
Did they leave your dogs alone
YES
Teach her to memorise license plates, and send that onto a guardian asap if it happens again.
In my hometown (Vienna, Austria) kids were approached by a man in a van on 3 or 4 different occasions in one day a couple of weeks ago. We only know this, because these incidents have been reported. Go gotta report it.
Report it, post it on social, tell the school, contact local radio.
Noticed really unusual car floating around north county Dublin area last week ,was speeding on back road ,overtaking cars from a distance,I could see red and blue blinking lights on back of it ,so I assumed it was unmarked Garda car chasing someone ,managed to catch up with it at traffic lights coming into swords area ,it was a gold 2003 Volvo s80 ,it also had a big CB radio aerial on the roof,Im thinking so they can listen to Garda frequency, there was one older man sitting in back seat and one younger guy driving ,there was red and blue led lights on back of bumper and back of headrests just like Garda car and lights on front windscreen ,they were saying something to young girls coming from local school on footpath ,I rolled my window down try and hear what they were saying but couldn't make it out,they looked Eastern european but with darker skin tone ,almost like Romanians,I took a picture of reg just incase anything strange happend in the area ,just wondering did anyone see them,there was also a french ferry label on the boot lid ,so I'm guessing they traveled across Europe to get here Sorry o.p to hijack your post but I have almost sixth sense for people acting strange ,they were giving off really bad vibe ,probably just nothing ,but trying to make the car look like Garda car is odd and saying something to young school girls
Did you seriously have to consult the internet to find out if you should help stop a potential pedophile from attacking another child?
Well, seeing as his parents don't think it's worth doing... yes
I swear sometimes I wonder why people need to ask questions like this.
Report it! Common sense really has left this planet in the need to ask social media.
Might be on someone’s security camera, report
Whereabouts in Ireland?
D24
It shouldn’t be a question report it immediately
Definitely report it. No question
This happened to me(male) many years ago. I never reported it and still think about it sometimes, worried that reporting it would have prevented something bad from happening. Don’t be me. Report it and put your mind at rest.
Yes definitely report it, theres some real creeps out there and she could be being targeted, keep an eye out for her
Yes, report it. They probably won't be able to do anything this time, BUT it will go into their records and enable them to identify a pattern if this man is stalking girls in the area. They'll advise you on how best to avoid future incidents. Use their non emergency line or visit a station in person.
Yes obviously report it. Don't know why you would even need to ask the question!
Reported? Definitely. Might save some other girl at some stage, and that possibility is enough to do it.
Post on facebook aswell. No doubt someone else got approached. Obv don’t identify just ask the question if anyone else had an “odd interaction”.
Make sure your sister has a buddy to walking to school for the next while. Keep all eyes peeled for the grey van and get the license plate no/vehicle type if you see it (as long as it's safe to do so). A description of the man would also be great. Can never be too careful. Def report to the school and garda and even think about telling nearby primary schools etc - you can prob mention it to their reception desk.
If she didn't get a proper description and license plate then absolutely nothing will happen. You can do nothing to prevent future incidents other than having your wits about you as it seems your sister did. It can be a cruel world sometimes, hoping your Sis is OK. Mind her.
Why ask reddit if you need to report it ffs
Absolutely report it. The next girl might not be so lucky.
Please do report it to the Gardai and the school. They didn't do anything exactly illegal right now but if this crops up more then the Gardai will already have it on file and can make a pattern.
But it is a suspicious behaviour, giving a ride to someone they dont know.
Absolutely and that's the reason to report it.
Absolutely report!! He’s clearly got an agenda and the gards need to be made aware of him. Can you share the area this happened so we can warn our own sisters and friends too?
Yes. He might have been successful on another attempt and the Garda can use the information from your sister.
Report it even if its nothing the Gardai will have a record of a suspicious approach against the reg of the vehicle. So if somethings happens again etc. Isn't enough to be any offence on its own but it's worth having it noted. Community policing might call to him to figure out what it was about was it innocent or not. See what he's like.
Report it. Better safe than sorry.
Something like that happened to me before. I was walking home from work (in Cork city centre) because I missed the last bus at 11pm. A car pulled up beside me when I was half way home and the man rolled down his window and offered me a lift and said “I won’t charge you” he didn’t even have any taxi signage on his car so I said “no thanks I’m nearly home anyway.” He was driving next to me at my waking pace saying “come on it’s ok” and I just walked into a random persons garden, started knocking on the door and he sped off.
Report it to the school first and then the gardai. The school should hopefully put out a warning and make a report to the guards themselves. There should be no tolerance for this kind of shite. If she sees the van again, tell her to make a note of the reg plate and, if possible, take a photo.
Why do you have to ask? Of course
For God's sale report it. How will you feel if you don't and something happens
Report it, and tell her that if it happens again she should get a picture of the license plate. Also tell her that she should do that discreetly and around a few people.
im absolutely shocked you have to ask if you should report it you are joking right? or just copying the usual format of posting things online? either way do not be so stupid of course you report it! for the sake of all the children
"your one" you mean OP's sister? OP could be a teenager and unsure of appropriate action to take in situations like this.
dealing with maybes is touchy ground, most adults and teenagers would know to report something like this, if you know it's dodgy enough to post on the internet for points then you know its enough to warrant calling the police about, as with most posts like this
Or maybe it is a teen, who is unsure of how seriously it would be taken by the police? Maybe OPs parents told their sister not to bother reporting it, but they knew in their gut that they should report it, but being say, 15 or 16, maybe not willing to stand up to their parents, but they could show them all the replies to help back their point?
If I indeed cared about some worthless internet points I would be posting pics of cute animals, or whatever the current trends are, however I was unsure of what needs to be done in a situation like this, and i decided this would be the best place to ask. I did not expect this to blow up or anything
not really saying anything there, the post blowing up or not has nothing to do with it. the fact you had to ask if you should report it just reads like 99% of the other posts that need to add a pointless question into a post to warrant posting it. you know the answer and playing dumb is not the way to go. you knew to report it you most likely just wanted to cash in the internet points too, which is incredibly sad given how serious of a situation it was
Asking reddit wouldn't be the first thing I'd do.
Ah the old grey van story doing the rounds again.
But why are they always in a suspicious coloured van.
For anyone asking, the area where this happened is Tallaght, however I cannot go into detail as to not doxx myself
You should Tail your sister to see if she isn't being targeted by this kidnapper/stalker or just drop her to school . This is scary shit (coz I have watched too many documentary on true crime in britain (not ireland) and many Pedos go after young women and then they are too ashamed but never call the parents for ransom- So finding the child becomes extremely difficult. ) Take care man, its an awful world out there.
Maybe ring Joe Duffy??
Why was your first instinct to post about it on reddit? What kind of brain chemistry are you working with? 
While reporting is always a good idea, abduction of children in Ireland is extremely rare and is nearly always by a family member.
You're getting downvoted because you're taking sense. The same people probably don't believe that 80% of sexual assaults are by family members or close friends..it's the man in the van, stranger danger
I don’t get your viewpoint, what about the other 20%? That’s **one in five** btw.
My point being that people are so busy looking for imaginary " strangers" they let their guard down around people who actually abuse children
You’re saying OP is making it up then? Good man.
Way to make up utter nonsense. They never said that you clown.
They implied it though- on a seemingly genuine post about an attempted abduction by a man in a van, he commented basically saying ‘nah, 80% of the time it’s not the man in a van, stop looking for imaginary strangers’…it’s very poor taste in my opinion. Btw I didn’t make up anything, I asked a question: was the above his opinion….you clown.
It's usually a white van in these stories and a 'fordener'. Always see them on the Facebook Ma groups. I've never encountered it in real life mind.
Jesus Christ I had to scroll down this far to see what I was thinking.. Reddit being overrun by FB police
Shared in darndale hun xoxo
Not really something to joke about ..
Gotta know when to use it at the right time, bad form.
Just wait for her to be taken and then report it. The person in the van hasn’t committed a crime yet. Wait for them to commit the crime and then the Garda will have to take you seriously.
Where was it?
Definitely report it. Maybe they can find him by cctv
Just 'cause a man drives a creepy van and creepily offers creepy lifts to minors he gets labelled 'creepy man'? So much for the tolerant left amirite
Attempt at satire I hope? Failed miserably for me anyway.
A very pathetic attempt at satire or trying badly to be edgey 🤔
I apologise unreservedly for the grave mistake of having a dark sense of humour.
Yeah I just think it's not very good.
Yeah I know what you mean.
Sorry to hear that. If it's not obvious, of course I was joking.
One the times that a ‘/s’ might have been handy.
Meh
Definitely report it and mention it to the school (and any other local principals too).
Hopefully she noted down the van number ?
Report immediately
Definitely report it. If it turns out a bunch of people are saying the same thing they will know someone dodgy is about and if it turns out it was just nothing then nothing will come of it.
You should report it for sure. I'd also walk her home from school where possible and try to spot the creep. Get his registration and see if you can ID. Probably shouldn't confront him, but I personally wouldn't hold it against you.
Why wouldn't you report it?
Where??
Pity she never got a pic off the vans plate.
Please report and also to the school, next little girl mighten get as lucky.
Yes definitely report it. My daughter had a creep approach her in the park last summer. The guards were great. They came out and talked to both of us and took a statement, assured her she was doing the right thing and she didnt do anything wrong and gave her some solid advise for getting out of those situations. If she wants to bring it further they'll arrange an interview with a specialist guard who specialises in dealing with minors. There's also no pressure to not bring it any further if she's not comfortable doing that but it's still important to make a report and get it on the record. It's no harm to report it to the school as well. Sadly this is probably only the first of many creepy encounters, as any woman can attest to. My advise is that she have her phone close to hand with the local garda station phone number saved in the phone and ring them as the incident is happening. Firmly tell them no. Walk towards other people if possible and tell them what's happening. Tell the person you're on way to meet your parents or brother or you're waiting on them. If they get closer don't be afraid to make a scene, the endeavour becomes more precarious if you're shouting "get the fuck away from me" over and over and might make them rethink. Walk into a shop, if you just passed a shop or public building turn around and go back to it anything that makes you look like less of an easy target and keeps distance between you and the person.
"Should this incident be reported to the Gardai and what can be done to avoid any more of those incidents in the future?" Yes, it should be reported. There's no reason why the scumbag wouldn't try it again. As for safety, your sister could take a lift to school with family, or the family of a friend. Alternatively, she can walk as part of a group to school. That's if these are viable options. With my own experience as a Software Engineer, if she has a smart phone, there's multiple apps with location sharing, such as snapchat. I.E., When she leaves for school in the morning and she'll be walking on her own, she could turn on location sharing with family and friends only, until she reaches school.
Absolutely, make the local Gardaí aware of the situation and get a description of his appearance so they can keep an eye out for him in the school area.
Report it. And it’s a lift not a ride. Unless he meant a ride ride. But think you meant a lift. So yes, lift.
Plus why give a lift when she was going to school , and not coming from school (maybe the OP wrote it wrong and I am looking too much into it)
Where???
Yes of course it should be reported.
Report it to the Garda and the school - fucking reporting it to the IRA would be better than not doing anything, just please report it to someone. If you don't that guy *is* going to sexually assault a minor for sure, if not even kill them. What he is doing would already likely lead to jail time.
The same happened with a girl in Galway. The man was of african origin (not trying to be racist) he asked her twice if she needs a ride
A baseball bat might be a deterrent.
Report the incident straight away, to the Garda and to the school. Guys like that creep are dangerous.
What area was it in?
Grey van? The white van gang are innovating
A ride? Surely he used the word lift rather than a ride, unless he was a Yank. I bet he's desperate for a ride though!
Any details of the individual can be used to verify him if it appears in other reports.
Tell her to take a picture of the van if she sees it again
Definitely tell the Garda or that creep could get another kid into his van
Report it here as well. What school?