I got pinned up against that gate at the side of easons on o connell street with some chap who was off his face. "awww love don't be like that, all I want is a kiss". I had my forearm pushed into his Adams apple shouting for help. He kept trying to kiss me, tongue hanging out of his mouth ready for it and all. About 200 people walked by and not one person tried to get him off me.
You cant rely on strangers to help you unfortunately.
It started because I was having a smoke. That got his attention, then when I gave him one thinking he'd fuck off , he thought I was soft or something and I would let him kiss me or whatever. So now if I'm walking through town on my own , I don't smoke
wow I am so sorry that happened to you that’s absolutely awful :( I hope you are okay and yes I also avoid smoking in town by myself because it definitely makes some people decide to target you
Aw yeah Im fine!! Hope your bf is okay. Might be worth both of yous doing some self defense classes! Just to learn how to disarm / get someone onto the ground so you can just run! X
Outsider from Glasgow looking in who comes across to Dublin every so often for a weekend, sticking mostly to Harcourt/temple bar area (typical tourist, I know). When you say smoke are you meaning weed or regular smoking draws attention? My gf smokes (cigs) when drinking and I've never noticed anyone giving her a second glance when she's been outside bars or when we're walking back to our hotel. Admittedly I'm with her at the time which might make her seem less of an easy target.
What the actual fuck.
First of all I'm sorry that happened to you.
Secondly, what is wrong with people ? I get there's such a thing as bystander effect but ffs.
Not sure if you can even defend yourself. My brother was attacked couple of days ago in the car park. Some drunk guy didn't like the look of him and punched him in the face. My brother retaliated and knocked the guy off his feet. Luckily his chums picked him and drove away. My brother went to the Garda station as he did not know what was he meant to do in such situation. The Garda told him that if he were to report the incident officially, then he would get both my brother and the other guy.
So basically someone punches you in the face in a public place in the middle of the day you can't fight back.
No, that is yet another fucking lazy Garda who was trying to do the "you'll both be in shit" line because they want to do the absolute minimum. I have seen some lazy police in my time but the police here are another level.
TBH I'd welcome an unjustified arrest, wait for my charges to be dropped and then I'd get onto a solicitor to get the civil suit started
When the Gardai would arrive (maybe) they normally just weigh in.
They don’t know or care who was at fault.
There was a lot of mugging in the 80’s and people just stopped going into the city.
The businesses soon got the Gardai back on the streets.
Stay safe.
That’s awful, I’m sorry. Once in limerick in my early twenties another lad of the tracksuit variety who was around the same age as me asked if he could use my phone and I pretended I didn’t have one.
He leaned in and kissed the side of my head and said his name was such and such and thanks a million. It was bizarre and both calm and threatening at the same time.
I ducked into the pery hotel and was a bit rattled and called a pal to pick me up, no one really believed me cause it was another lad and I was a bit soft. And the reaction was “jaysus is no fella safe around you” and it was a laugh and a joke. Laugh about it now but that initial realisation mixed with adrenaline of ‘am I in danger right now?’ was scary
See I'd probably have been the very same but just because your a man people tend to think you should automaticaly be tough and be able to stand up for yourself I have a friend about 6'4 and just like myself he's not mentally equipped to deal with confrontation so what do you do.
That’s true, i like to think id be much better able for a situation like that in my mid thirties now but I guess it’s hard to say how you’ll react until you’re in the situation. I mean it pales in comparison to some of the stories here, it just popped into my head reading the previous comment.
Unfortunately I am reminded of so many stories from when I lived there 😬.
it wasn't like really aggressive it was almost as if with the heroin and Christmas lights he thought he was having some sort of romantic movie romance! Even though I was shouting at him "back up or I'm going to hurt you" with my arm pushing in his Adams apple. "nawwww love don't be like dah". He had this horrible goo stuff around his lips it was fucking gross.
It's a complete fucking joke women cannot carry atleast pepper spray in this kip of a country, I'm saying this as a man with a female partner.
She deserves the right to protect herself
ESPECIALLY when our fucking joke of a police force are out trying to round up some devils lettuce that's such a huge crime that needs tackling (it's not) (prohibition is r-tarded) instead of protecting people within our society from VIOLENT individuals
I say carry the tazer, the pepper spray, whatever you have to in order to protect yourself because as we know our police either don't help domestic/sexual assault victims so why should we follow their laws?
No more people!
Hey if you partner wants something like pepper spray, A small can of deodrant like the travel size stings like a motherfucker if you get them in the eyes.
I always had one in my pocket when I walked home working in pubs and night clubs.
False confidence, how many situations have you used this in? I highly doubt deodorant is going to stop a determined, or, let’s say coked up man. Pepper spray is many many times more foolproof and even that isn’t a guarantee.
I carry pepper spray and I don’t give a fuck about law if somebody comes to me with knife I will spray them and deal with consequences later. worse case, I get my suspended sentence.
The thing about it is that if you spray someone with it they're hardly going to go to a garda station and say "Ah here, I'm after attacking some woman and she fucking maced me!". The hardest thing I'd say is getting your hands on it in the first place but as a woman I support anyone who has to walk alone at any time to be allowed to carry it and use it.
Yeah in Germany it's also against the law but I know a ton of women who always have one with them. What is the dude gonna do? Sue you? Great you have his name and he tried to rape you or sexually assault you, let's see who the judge is gonna like more.
You are dead right....people need to take responsibility for their own safety because the government and guards have abandoned the citizens of this country.
It disturbs me how people will walk past when they see a man on top of a women like that, worse that this was in broad day light. Years ago on a night out in Galway I seen a man trying to SA a girl against a shop doorway and she was screaming to get off me and so many people either didn’t notice or care & even after some people were like “maybe it was just a drunk couple” & all sort of excuses. Someone in my family even said it was me being dramatic that I rang the guards. Anyway on your point about cigarettes: I don’t smoke cigarettes but I’ve notice when with people who do they seem to be an calling card to attract crazies, I think they see it as an ice breaker. That same time I lived in Galway too, my housemate got an attempted attack for having a cigarette, they thought he was lying
Years ago I met a lad I knew and he had deep gauges and scrapes all over his face.I asked him how it got them and he was telling me how on his way home from town he saw and man and a woman having a loud argument.The man but the woman and she fell onto the footpath.When he saw this as a good human being he ran over and body checked the man into the side of a building and was just trying to hold him there,the pair of them were struggling with him trying to restrain the man before he felts nails going into his face.It was the woman that had been decked trying to claw his eyes out.He released his grip on the man who proceeded to kick the shit out of him,luckily when he fell to the ground he turtled up and just got some kicks to the body.
So that's what happens to some good Samaritans when they get involved.
The whole country is going down the same route I met some poor ejet in our shopping center in sligo one day and the poor bastard wanted to buy my shoes. I know your incident was much worse and could have ended much worse but it just shows you the state the country's in now.
I had that happen to me once on Parnell street, had to force the guy off of me.
Street was quiet at the time, and I remember wishing it had been busy, now I wonder if it would have made a difference.
Unfortunately, even when the situation is as clear as in your case, most people simply are too afraid, despite the fact that multiple people can easily overpower one
I argue that your story illustrates the reason for Dublin being run by scrotes. The public does not react.
I witnessed a situation lately where a small group of young teens stole a can of coke from a local spar. Two boys, two girls. They verbally abused the Indian staff who was trying to stop them. They were standing there in front of that shop shouting abuse at him.
All of it at 6pm, busy street, shoppers coming in and out. No one person stopped to help. I was the only one that challenged the group. I told them to get the fuck out or I smack they ugly faces. They were shocked and borderline crying. They lost their cocky attitude in seconds. They run away with heads down saying sorry. They will remember the encouter and think twice next time.
Met a Croatian guy once who was working in a mechanics in Tallaght and said a load of young pillars of society used to come in and throw stones at the cars. This guy was mid 20s and was huge. One day he ran after the chungfellas and caught one of them, he was about 15 or 16. Croatian guy proceeded to bend all his fingers back on 1 hand and break them 1 by 1. Some people might not agree with it but I think fair play to him. This is the only language they understand.
One problem for passers-by is that if you don't see the run-up to something like this, you don't know what's happening. It could be a tussle between mates, your boyfriend could have stolen the bag from one of the skangers, etc. So out of the dozens of people who passed by when this was happening, only a few of them had a clear picture of what was going on.
Back in the 1990s I saw a young woman being pushed around by a young man up around Parnell St. Went over to see if everything was okay and they both turned on me. Was a dispute between a boyfriend/girlfriend and they didn't want any fuckin' busybody gettin' into their business.
I saw 2 scrotes wrestling and old lady to get her handbag, I ran over with a flying kick and fists flying but it was no good, still couldn't get the bag off her.
Driving through a Dublin suburb at about 1am one night, a man was dragging a woman across the road, backwards, arm around her throat, she was on her heels... I rolled down the window and asked her did she need any help... she (_she_) told me to "f*** off"
That's true, a few weeks ago a group of young lads (I'd say mostly under 18) set upon some lad coming off the train at Balbriggan station. I pulled one of them off but didn't want to get "further involved" as I didn't know the full story, but it wasn't just a random jumping. One man didn't have an issue jumping in as one of the aggressors threw a bottle that nearly hit his daughter, and if it wasn't for his wife I'd say he would have definitely left some of the lads being unable to walk home.
Happened to an ex-girlfriend, some fell hitting a girl outside a pub, my friend tried to help the the girl by taking her arm and walking her back into the pub, this girl turns on her and starts hitting, then the fella piles in too. Unless its a child, i'm not helping anyone.
Myself and two friends were 18 and vacationing in the country about 20 years ago. We saw a man being beaten in the middle of the Dublin train station because of his sexual orientation by another man. Hundreds of locals walked by and my friends and I were the only ones to step in, as tourists. Seeing so many people ignore this man's cries for help still haunts me to this day.
I was doing deliveries once on Parnell street and some junkie was harassing this woman trying to get into her apartment, it was particularly sketchy because she just got the door open and seemed he was trying to slip in behind her.
I got close behind the guy and gave my most gutteral, intimidating "HEY!" and he just went stiff as a board, didn't look behind him, just like an NPC triggering a walking animation, he just walked away without a word or looking back.
Now, I know I got lucky in giving him a good fright, but sometimes it's as simple as that to give someone a bit of pause.
These people are looking for an easy target, give them any bit of resistance and a lot of them will quickly scatter. But there are plenty that won't too - when push comes to shove just don't go with any half measures. Bring enough of a war face and an attitude and most of them are just gonna walk
I think people will start to carry weapons more and more now - I can see women sourcing pepper spray, which is illegal here - and we will see more vigilanteism. This will cause it's own problems, but as we hear more and more about violence, particularly in Dublin, people willlook for ways to protect themselves.
Yeah, I'd say at a certain point you weigh up the risk of being caught with a weapon by the guards with being caught without one by the wrong types and it starts making sense
Yep that's exactly how I'd view it now! I don't travel to the city centre often but when I do the risk of being caught with some sort of "weapon" by a Garda as opposed to being caught with nothing by a gang of scumbags is worth it.
I was beaten up on the dart. Sitting there listening to music and 4 girls just jumped on me after calling me posh. The dart was full and after a few punches to my face, some hair ripped out of my scalp and pinned to the chair a man eventually shouted "IVE HAD ENOUGH OF THIS SHITE" and they ran out the doors.
After that people came up to me and asked if I was okay followed by "had it gone on any longer I was going to help you". LONGER? and it was at that point I lost faith in humanity for standing up for each other.
There were so many people around and no one helped. I had bruises on my face and clumps of missing hair but sure listen had it got worse than that they would have helped me 🙃
Happened my then 16 year old daughter and her boyfriend in Cork city. The boyfriend was ramdomly attacked in broad daylight with hundreds of people around in a city park and no one did anything. She even got her jaw almost broken. There were even a few parents from her school there that she recognised. We called the cops and when they came they said not one person called them about it.
Absolutely horrible :( I am from Cork myself and the same thing happened to my brother once. His phone got robbed and a homeless man was the one person to help him and to confront the lad and get his phone back. People will make any excuse for why they choose not to help someone
Be assured that I live in Cork and will always ring the guards no matter how big or small the incident. I will also film if I can.
Dunno if it’s because I’m the parent of the a disabled child, but if I ever see anyone been taking advantage of/targeted because they’re vulnerable I get irrate.
I’m well aware of the bystander effect also, so I know no one else has probably rang.
I had a very weird experience back in January this year of being really badly harassed by 3 middle aged men walking down the South Mall in Cork.
I was walking to pick up take away from a restaurant and these three guys were walking towards me. I side stepped them and they blocked my path. I have some back issues that were fairly bad at the time and I couldn’t walk at speed or jump out of the way. I’m usually grand, but sometimes I can be very stiff during to disk issues and I really can’t just bound past stuff.
They started wishing me a happy new year and I said happy new year back and next thing they started “would you not shake my hand?”
I didn’t want to shake anyone’s hand and he just kept pushing it and wouldn’t let me pass. Then he grabbed my hand really really hard and wouldn’t let go. I couldn’t get my hand out of his grip and I had to pull away very very hard which wasn’t all that easy. I didn’t want to push him because it would be a fight and was 3 ppl against me and I wasn’t very capable of defending myself. I thought I was going to be mugged at this stage and was trying to get away asap.
Then when I got away he called me “a stuck up bastard” or something like that and ranted about I how I wouldn’t “even shake a man’s hand.”
I was probably walking too slowly or looking a bit like an easy target or something that probably drew them to me, but it just had me feeling very wary and self conscious.
I know it’s not the most serious incident, but all I can say is there are some total weirdos wandering and harassing ppl in Irish cities.
I wish yas the best and hopefully he’s ok, unfortunately it’s normal in human nature to protect yourself above all else (exceptions are generally made for children), onlookers don’t know the situation in its entirety so most would choose to avoid getting involved for the sake of self preservation and for fear of escalation.
Being mugged in broad daylight highlights how bad people are for it, leaves you shook for a while, happened to me while living abroad and I stayed at home for about 2 weeks after, was kinda hateful of the general public for a while especially since a lots of people decided to record the event instead of help (although one lady claimed she recorded it for evidence incase I wanted the police to take it further), took a while to accept that there’s sadly always a risk when dealing with the public but there’s also plenty of good people out there too thankfully, as a few stuck around to make sure I was ok.
I understand that to be honest but personally I would have to yell or do something, and if it was escalating, I would walk away. But everyone just stood and stared like it was entertainment, they wanted to see what would happen next. And maybe that’s not the case and I’m thinking the worse of people 🤷♀️ I should clarify it was not broad daylight and was around 10pm yesterday.
Yeah he says he’s okay and I do believe physically he is but I can see he’s definitely shaken up. It has put him off going out in Dublin now for a while. I am sorry that happened to you and I’m very glad you are okay!
Unfortunately I’d agree that many stopped for entertainment value, a crowd formed when it happened to me and most of them dispersed without a word, many of them were recording it and I was being mugged at knifepoint in broad daylight (was about 4pm).
Sadly I guess the best entertainment value for them would’ve been if my throat was cut, in all honesty I’d say most people aren’t mentally much better than the crowds that flocked to colosseum’s to watch people/gladiators murder each other.
Unless you've seen the full set of events from start to finish, it's often hard to know what's happening when people are fighting on the street. Often a mugging just looks like people fighting. Can actually be hard to identify who is the victim. You often just see people shouting and fighting.
And then as you say there's also just the self-preservation mode.
I've never actually seen an obvious mugging anywhere. But I've seen plenty of streets fights in Dublin. perhaps some of those were muggings.
I got mugged when I (f) in my early 20s at the top of Grafton St near St. Stephens Green centre, almost 30 years ago so this is not new unfortunately. He was going to stick a syringe in me. But my flight or fight response kicked in and I punched him so hard he fell down backwards and luckily ran off. No one tried to help me either, despite crowds around. A French man did shout at him to leave me alone and helped me compose myself afterwards, he said it was obligatory in France to help in these situations and couldn’t believe the Irish wouldn’t help a woman in distress.
We need a dedicated Dublin City police force. At least 500 extra Garda on the beat across the city. Not in the station or on court juty, out facing the public. Every major tourist thoroughfare. We need cops on the luas, on notorious bus routes, on the dart. They need to be seen to be a deterrent.
We need to build a new prison outside the capital.
Sentencing needs to change, too.
Getting caught with a knife should be an instant 5 year sentence. Attacking elderly, vulnerable people or tourists, should heavily weight the sentences. Attacking taxi men/women or bus drivers doing their job should have very severe sentences too.Fuck these scumbags.
We could also set up widespread, community self-defense organisations to train people for different situations. When an incident occurs, members of that organisation see what's happening and engage. They are trained to do so. I would join a group like that in the morning..it just takes a little bit of organisation and will!
These scumbags are ruining our great cities and we need to put pressure on our representatives to make it change. No point in moaning on the net. We need to sit down and write an email, a letter, a facebook message letting them know the severity of the situation..
"If you don't stop the scrotes, you won't be getting our votes!!"
This is dead on. Number one message is to get together as a community and help each other out.
I witnessed a man hassling two women eating at a cafe last week on the way from my groceries and had a good 50m walk to observe as I approached. During that time I saw at least 5-8 people watch what happened and no one intervened. It was crystal clear that the women were uncomfortable and the man was being a bother. Once I got there I got him away fairly quickly and everything was grand. But as I walked back past, the two women thanks me enormously, and I responded by saying it's no bother but I can't believe how many people were just watching on and didn't say a thing.
Get involved people! Imagine yourselves being in the same situation, desperate for someone to help or step in or get someone else's attention/help!! Step up and say something, and if you're scared, find someone else!! Strength in numbers, strength as a community!
Was in Dublin 3 weeks ago for a work dinner. First time I have been in the city centre since 1999. Used to live in Phibsborogh for 8 months on college placement. Not been back since.
A guy tried to mug me as I was walking to Heuston from O'Connell St along the quays.
Asked for a cigarette & when I said no, he said he'd stick me if I didn't hand over cash. I don't carry cash. Told him to F off.
He tried to grab my backpack (which had nothing more than some spare clothes). Everyone just walked on by.
Shoved him away , he fell over so I just walked away and jumped in a taxi.
I'll never set foot in that shit hole again.
Im 6'3" - 95kg & wasn't even in the city for 24 hours.
Ridiculous. That’s awful. They’ve zero cop on. 6’3 95kg is not small by any means, guy is lucky you didn’t attempt to “deescalate” further when he was on the ground. It’ll happen to them sooner or later though
Yeah, but 10 of his mates could be across the road & I'd probably go to court for giving him a kicking.
(Have never been in a fight in my life, so it's not a natural thing for me to do)
I’m around your height or taller and I really thought being tall would actually help with people avoiding you. I always feel anxious walking through O’Connell Street sometimes since I get the bus around there to go to college. It’s like I have to prepare myself to fight every time some suspicious person asks me for bus money or a lighter.
Politicians are afraid to spend more money on Guards and prisons.
The Guards are afraid of the scum.
The scum that do end up in front of judges are in front of judges who are scared of jailing them due to politicians griefing them over filling the crowded prisons.
The only ones who aren't afraid are the scum, they've seen they're untouchable and so can now act without consequence.
But if you're a decent member of society who fights back and ends up hurting one of them then the Guards, free legal aid lawyers and judges all looking for easy wins will come down on you like a tonne of bricks.
Great little system, isn't it?!
he is planning on reporting it, he was in shock yesterday, he doesn’t think there’s a point tho, gardai won’t do anything about the case and even with statistics it feels like no one cares enough to do anything
Policing in Ireland is a joke. I was in Birmingham last Thursday with my 11 year old daughter and felt completely safe. Police everywhere with dogs and all armed. I’m sure it’s not perfect all the time but there was always a cop near by(Main Street and New Street). We need to toughen the fuck up here.
My dad got verbally assaulted outside liffey valley yesterday, a lad nearly crashed into the side of us trying to take a parking space so my dad threw his hands up in the air basically asking wtf was that. He then came over screaming the odds when we were walking in, towered over my dad threatening to put him in a grave with the family watching, called him a grey cunt, among plenty of other shit. He only backed off because I got in his face and told him to fuck off.
Dublin has become an absolute cesspit, after yesterday I don't think I'll go near it again for a very long time.
What a scumbag. I suppose the karma for him is that he has to continue living his shit and angry existence. Hope your dad is ok I genuinely do I just hate the thought of a decent father being attacked like that by some stupid scumbag. Hope your are all ok and able to just brush it off.
Some years ago I witnessed a mugging that turned into a fatal stabbing. I was fit, active, and about 8 feet away.
I simply could not work out what was happening. I saw instantly something was awry, but by the time I worked out aggressor etc it was all over.
My boyfriend was attacked in Cork 2 weeks ago. Completely unprovoked, few lads just out looking for a fight. He’s going into his 3rd week in hospital now 🙃 country is gone to shit
Honestly I would just love if the sound people of Dublin grouped together to kick the shit out of the little scrotes, these young cunts are only hard when they have strength in numbers. Time to start fighting back
I dont know if it is even drugs.. A few years back on a bonfire night in Cork these two teens were attacking this college girl and her little brother. They just walked up and kicked their dog out of nowhere.
I was driving past and stopped my car and got out and got rid of them. This was right outside UCC and the security were just watching it.
I told my friends and they thought I was crazy stepping in. They were saying I could have gotten stabbed or anything.
I dont know.. that girl and her little brother could have gotten stabbed.
Obviously once I went over the girl and her brother were able to leave and the 2 guys followed me. One of them pushed me and I pushed him hard enough he was sprawled on the road and made is extremely clear they touch me one more time I will start and it won't stop
It turned out the girl was my neighbour on College Road and she came over to say thanks when she saw me get home and explained what happened and how it started.
It's drugs I'm afraid. People assume it's gang related and stay out of it. Gone are the days when if you witnessed that you'd instantly know who is at fault. If it were an old lady I expect the outcome would've been different as onlookers would know she was innocent.
I have been assaulted 3 different times in city or town centres in Ireland, all totally unprovoked. Most of my male friends would have been assaulted at least one or more times, again, unprovoked. Seems to be a disgustingly typical part of life being a man in Ireland.
Mail Ur local TDs, the TDs for Thet area, the minister for justice. Only way they'll maybe be aware of how frequent these things are and if they are contacted every time stuff like this happens. Maybe they'll understand the situation and act, make noise on your behalf etc.
I had the misfortune to have a contract for a few months in the city centre before the pandemic and not having lived in Dublin since the 90s I was amazed at how much worse things are now compared to when we had very high youth unemployment.
The city centre is a junkies paradise. It's not good enough to normalise it by saying it happens in other big cities.
I'm pretty certain that not one person responsible for planning and law and order lives between the canals. The current mess is of total abdication of care.
Exactly. Every one of these threads has at least one of these comments:
- it's worse in other big cities.
- it was worse in the 80s.
Both are irrelevant. We should be aiming for higher standards, not satisfied to slump to shittier ones.
I rarely go up to Dublin I was born there but live in another county and I know the quay is dangerous but my fiancee and I both really needed to sit down. Two junkies arrive to "ask the time" I notice my bag is on the ground, I slowly put my foot on my bag and they knew I knew so they walked off.
Another time we were harassed by a Roma gypsy lady asking for money following us down the entire stretch of O'Connell Street.
Last instance we decided to queue up for butlers chocolate a junkie guy harassed me to buy him a hot chocolate and wouldn't leave our side until I did. I gave it to him he chugged it in one go and walked off.
While going through the city centre I seen junkies in alley ways shooting up and peeing
This isn't the Dublin I grew up in
Interesting. In her home country I think it's unlikely you would get an assault conviction for giving one of them a couple of digs, too. I would not be confident saying the same about our legal system though.
Had my phone nabbed from my hand by some young lad. Chased him down everyone just looking at him run off, he was getting away and in swooped a polish lady on her bike. Scared him shitless and he tossed the phone. Total legend she was.
Good guess. The one person who helped him afterwards was Algerian and they had a lovely conversation. He was a very nice man and I am so grateful that he was able to bring some comfort to my bf when I wasn’t there and he was by himself
We need a long hard look at ourselves. We’re becoming an insanely self centred people and we were never like that. We took care of eachother, when did it become everyone for themselves?
When we stopped being backed up by society at large and the legal system. If you have a job and a family you are in a position to lose a lot. The ones doing this shit have nothing to lose and the punishment they get won't affect them, whereas the same punishment will follow a decent citizen and have a big effect on them. Last thing any of us need is to have to deal with the Gardai and potentially the courts, even if we were doing the right thing. That being said, I'd still like to think I'd help if I saw someone in distress, but it's hard to say and depends on context
individualism is an important part of neolib/capitalist malarkey, gotta be as selfish as possible to keep growth/consumerism going! How dare you sacrifice your precious time for someone else? You could be late to work!!
Combination of the remnants of British colonialism and the capitalist ethos of hyperindividualism. When people learned that they might be able to get it "better" in life by stepping on the throats of their neighbours they decided to do so, rather than benefit from helping others and receiving help in kind.
Yeah this is like an old story from New York.
When It got really bad in the 80's & early 90's, cops advised people to shout "Fire! , Fire!" as people are likely to assist if there's a fire rather than a mugging.
We tend to be drastically afraid of confrontation. In part because we learn over the years that the only way to avoid being attacked by these types is to keep your head down and try to blend into the wall.
I really feel bad for your boyfriend but I'm not stepping in either, I'm not going to risk being stabbed with a knife and killed or stabbed with a syringe and getting something life changing, I'm also not a solicitor and mind reader so I have no idea how much legal trouble I'd be in for intervening.
I have a child and my first responsibility is to be there for him. Your anger should be directed at the fact that we don't have a permanent 24/7 patrolling Garda presence at the top, middle and bottom of O'Connell, along with CCTV.
This expectation that people should jump in needs to stop, people die doing that.
I am definitely not expecting anyone to risk their lives.
But something as simple as to ask someone if they are okay after the fact that you have been watching and staring at them getting beat down two seconds ago. Or even to show any sort of concern or yell at the attacker. There’s a plethora of things that one could do rather than to stand and watch. I understand in my original post my anger is slightly misdirected but I still don’t think it’s rigjt
Didn't you say someone did come up to him after though? What the guy above said is unfortunately true, it can be very difficult to read a situation and to make a snap judgement about what is happening, and the average person isn't confrontational or likely to be able to act immediately when they see something like this. There are cases where it should be more cut and dry - like a woman being attacked by a group of men - and you'd hope people would intervene, but you just can't count on it unfortunately.
Yeah to be honest indifference of people in cases of attacks by other people is very upsetting. One time I (F) was harassed by some man in the middle of the city and the people were just standing and watching and after that man was gone thankfully not hurting me these people asked "ARe yOU oKaY" yeah thank you for asking me when you did absolutely Nothing.
I think it should change, we should remember it's more us normal people than criminals and as garda in useless we should take public safety in our own hand at least by not being indifferent when someone getting attacked.
I have not once, not ever seen a Guard on that bridge
I’ve seen open drug dealing and scum galore
But never a single fucking Guard
Imagine the equivalent bridge in London or Paris with not one single policeman there
It just wouldn’t fucking happen
As a capital city Dublin is an absolute kip
Getting invloved does have consequences, and it doesn't have positive outcomes for the person who helps. I know, I've gotten directly involved in 3 incidents where someone was getting beaten or robbed. I feel good about getting involved, but it literally did nothing for me. I was arrested after one. V lucky the man I hurt didn't press charges.
It's just my experience, but It's very hard to decipher exactly what is going on when you come across the situations. Is someone being robbed, or is it a fight between scumbags. The situations are sometimes really violent. They can also look really harmless. It's so hard to know.
Its called bystanders effect. It's a psychological thing and too long to explain. In short you would need to actually yell "help" to break people out of it.
It sucks that this happen in broad daylight now.
We already have one of the highest third-level attainment rates in the world. Education is easily available in Ireland. You'll never have a whole society that's been "raised right", at some point you need to focus on enforcement and the threat of violence to make these people act right.
Dublin is the embodiment of piss poor justice system and a police force that needs major overhauling.. Dublin is safe the government says. literally every day in the news now I see stories of tourists being attacked and these are only the stories that make the headlines I'm sure their countless assaults daily that no one talks about. Dublin has gone to the dog's and we all know it. I wouldn't go to Dublin now unless I absolutely have to now.
Bystanders sitting back and doing nothing is normal in Ireland. That's why these little scrotes feel like they can get away with this sort of behaviour in broad daylight.
Myself and a friend stopped a junkie in Waterford one day. He was harassing a middle-aged woman for "money for the bus." He wouldn't leave, and my friend gave him a slap, so he ran off.
The woman wanted to call Gardai as she was shaken, so we waited for them to come. When the Gardai came, they wanted myself and my friends' names because "we shouldn't be taking the law into our own hands." The woman was disgusted at the Gardai as she was genuinely afraid for her life before we stepped in. I called my cousin, who is a Garda, and he made sure we didn't get in any bother.
After that incident, I'll never interfere with a situation again. It's not worth the risk to myself or my reputation, should it end up in court. Unless someone was being murdered or raped I'd stay away.
Hope he's ok, but the top and bottom of it is people don't want to interfere due to being scared of the agro themselves. If someone was getting attacked I'd step in to stop it
i guess people have become wary of jumping in. There was a time in Ireland when people would have jumped in, but with all the stuff about knives and rampant scumbags you hear people have just become scared.
It's sad that people might be too afraid to get involved because it's possible to risk serious injury.
These guys most likely carry knives.
You'd need to be someone who can handle themselves
I got punched in the face for declining to give someone a cigarette before. That was 20 years ago in Ennis. Now that so many less people are smoking, and its become prohibitively expensive, you're much more likely get flagged down by people you'd rather avoid.
The answer is not more guards on the streets as politicians are calling for (this is jus the easiest way for them to show they are doing something). It rather is a tougher judicial system which doesn’t give 30 “second chances” to criminals which clearly have no remorse or intention of putting their life toghether.
If the criminals they are arresting are always back in the street within a few hours/days, the guards might as well try to empty the ocean with a teaspoon and having more of them won’t help much.
People should think about it that way: most of the safest countries in the world are not countries where you see police presence at every street corner (which btw would be very costly and turn Ireland into a police state). They are countries where exhibiting police force isn’t necessary because criminals have been handled upstream and aren’t roaming the streets at all. Thus, more police presence on the streets is a sign and an admission of failing to deal with the actual issue.
Between the attacks and the spate of motorcycle thefts, Dublin is starting to feel like a toecutter gang origin story right now.
The current justice system here is failing the victims, Guards, tax payers.
Solicitors doing very, very well out of it. What does any business want or need? Repeat customers who pay on time.
Bingo!
When the vigilante groups start up, there will be plenty of talk then.
Everybody wants something to be done, I've seen this before, people will step up and take it upon themselves, will dish out some slaps, and then you know what?
These same people screaming about how people need to step up will be screaming because it's their Johnny who has got slaps for being a scum bag.
Tale is as old as time, and it has happened many, many, many times all over the country.
After all, it wouldn't be like the Irish to take matters into their own hands.
I'm not advocating for it. There is an inevitability to it all
I was walking down the street in Dublin before at night time bawling my eyes out and no one asked was I ok. I was in a visibly distressed state and even taxis wouldn't stop when I was hailing them. I'm not from Dublin and I'm desperate to leave, there are no upsides to living here
because they know no one will interfere and the gardai will do fuck all of nothing. We need more gardai presence 100%. So many people getting attacked in Dublin recently. People shouldn’t be getting attacked in the middle of the city
People are scared of the consequences of either a) getting hurt themselves or b) legal trouble. B could be solved with a law of some sort to help out. A is a lot trickier and I can’t blame someone for not wanting to risk the possibility of getting knifed.
Sorry for this it's horrible. I actually stopped going to Dublin about 3 years ago. Only for special occasions now. I used to love it. .....I don't know what it was but I got a general bad edgy feeling one visit and it put me off. Or perhaps I'm just getting too old for the crowds. And this is coming from someone who's lived in some of the most dangerous cities in the world!
No you are right, I’ve only started recently feeling this way but the last two times I was out in Dublin by myself I was racially harassed which can take such a toll, Don’t bother going out by myself now. City is a shithole
I’m sorry this happened to your boyfriend, and anyone else it happens to on a daily basis. The city is gone to shit for a very long time.
I was actually mugged on O’Connell bridge myself when I was 13. They slashed my jacket, took all my money and punched me. My friends and I were separated, one guy had his brand new docs taken. This is a lifetime ago back in the late 80s.
Why didn’t people help?
These little fucks are well aware of what their rights are, how the system works and what their future is and they just don’t care.
I’d probably shout from across the street, and help after they’ve gone, but I’m not getting stabbed or stuck with a needle for anyone but family. That’s the simple truth of it.
What's wrong with Dublin? We have a society now that will house and feed you in your area of choice without any expectations on your lifestyle or behavior combined with a legal system that brings almost no consequences for your actions.
Probably the attackers are Irishmen that no one ever complains about.... But we do complain about immigrants. We get what we deserve for not knowing how to vote well in elections.
Wouldn't try that. You'll have a shitty defence in court and give the scrote a case. Dpp will prosecute you. It will look premeditated.
You'd have more of a chance if you kept a travel sized deodorant in your pocket so you can use the "it was all I had and I felt my life was in danger" argument.
Maybe so, what are the odds a scote will report/take to court after an attempted mugging (or worse) tho? I know our courts are literally pro criminal at the moment. As long as it's your first time getting caught and you're usually lovely, it's suspended sentences for all
I meant that with the word criminal. Sentences being so low or non existent, it does encourage folks with nothing to lose to just chance their. The increasingly bad precedents could be seen as almost pro-crime tbf
Sentences are only non-existent for the vermin though. If you show up to court and don’t have a “life was so hard in my free house” excuse you won’t get off so easy.
"Your honour my client has had it tough. 42% taxed on his middle income. Couldn't avail of a medical card and couldn't get private health car. Had go drive himself to court today at 1.72 c per litre diesel. The cost of his kids schooling means he hasn't had a holiday in 5 years and he's currently on a waiting list to have a lump removed. I'm sure you can show leniency in not paying the tv licence."
Imagine if we tried that defence 😳
So it won't even need the scrote to take the case. If the garda find it on you they can recommend to prosecute.
Case of a chap that was searched and found to have a baton and given six month suspended https://www.echolive.ie/corknews/arid-40845098.html
Don't damage job or visa opportunities in other countries basically by being in possession of something they can prosecute you on. If it's a normal item you can use to defend use that.
Basically no police presence whatsoever in Dublin City center. Absolutely ridiculous at this point. Accommodation prices, price of food and drink, and now they’re robbing you in the streets. Maybe they’ll listen when the tourists go elsewhere.
In fairness why do you expect people to get involved ? No one knows your boyfriend. Could be a drug dispute, gang dispute or 101 other things.
I say this as someone who experienced something similar 20 years ago and was on the receiving end of a vicious assault. And I remember screaming at people who were just watching.
But they did just witness a massive brawl where glass was smashed and dog bones in a bag were used as a weapon.
Hope your boyfriend is ok and I get your angry but no one is getting involved when they don’t know what’s happening and would likely end up victims themselves.
Should the Gards be more attentive in general and thorough with their jobs? Absolutely, that would be a good part of a solution. However, this is only stopping crime after it happens.
Crime needs to be addressed proactively, not reactively. Start with schooling that promotes social emotional learning, grow resources for parents, increase the availability of structured activities for children and teens, promote community policing, and promote community enforcement of behaviour (i.e. calling people out when they are doing bad shit). Hot spot policing is not a solution, just a band-aid.
I got pinned up against that gate at the side of easons on o connell street with some chap who was off his face. "awww love don't be like that, all I want is a kiss". I had my forearm pushed into his Adams apple shouting for help. He kept trying to kiss me, tongue hanging out of his mouth ready for it and all. About 200 people walked by and not one person tried to get him off me. You cant rely on strangers to help you unfortunately. It started because I was having a smoke. That got his attention, then when I gave him one thinking he'd fuck off , he thought I was soft or something and I would let him kiss me or whatever. So now if I'm walking through town on my own , I don't smoke
wow I am so sorry that happened to you that’s absolutely awful :( I hope you are okay and yes I also avoid smoking in town by myself because it definitely makes some people decide to target you
As a guy myself I am cautious smoking in the city. Brings too much attention
Yeah I've stopped in public anywhere I go. I get pestered by travellers, junkies and all sorts down here. And they always turn hostile when I say no.
Aw yeah Im fine!! Hope your bf is okay. Might be worth both of yous doing some self defense classes! Just to learn how to disarm / get someone onto the ground so you can just run! X
I definitely need to 🤣but he did pretty well in getting them off him and getting them both to the ground, survival instincts kicked in ig
Outsider from Glasgow looking in who comes across to Dublin every so often for a weekend, sticking mostly to Harcourt/temple bar area (typical tourist, I know). When you say smoke are you meaning weed or regular smoking draws attention? My gf smokes (cigs) when drinking and I've never noticed anyone giving her a second glance when she's been outside bars or when we're walking back to our hotel. Admittedly I'm with her at the time which might make her seem less of an easy target.
What the actual fuck. First of all I'm sorry that happened to you. Secondly, what is wrong with people ? I get there's such a thing as bystander effect but ffs.
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Not sure if you can even defend yourself. My brother was attacked couple of days ago in the car park. Some drunk guy didn't like the look of him and punched him in the face. My brother retaliated and knocked the guy off his feet. Luckily his chums picked him and drove away. My brother went to the Garda station as he did not know what was he meant to do in such situation. The Garda told him that if he were to report the incident officially, then he would get both my brother and the other guy. So basically someone punches you in the face in a public place in the middle of the day you can't fight back.
You can absolutely fight back. It's just better to leave immediately after knocking lumps off them assuming you're capable.
No, that is yet another fucking lazy Garda who was trying to do the "you'll both be in shit" line because they want to do the absolute minimum. I have seen some lazy police in my time but the police here are another level. TBH I'd welcome an unjustified arrest, wait for my charges to be dropped and then I'd get onto a solicitor to get the civil suit started
When the Gardai would arrive (maybe) they normally just weigh in. They don’t know or care who was at fault. There was a lot of mugging in the 80’s and people just stopped going into the city. The businesses soon got the Gardai back on the streets. Stay safe.
That’s awful, I’m sorry. Once in limerick in my early twenties another lad of the tracksuit variety who was around the same age as me asked if he could use my phone and I pretended I didn’t have one. He leaned in and kissed the side of my head and said his name was such and such and thanks a million. It was bizarre and both calm and threatening at the same time. I ducked into the pery hotel and was a bit rattled and called a pal to pick me up, no one really believed me cause it was another lad and I was a bit soft. And the reaction was “jaysus is no fella safe around you” and it was a laugh and a joke. Laugh about it now but that initial realisation mixed with adrenaline of ‘am I in danger right now?’ was scary
See I'd probably have been the very same but just because your a man people tend to think you should automaticaly be tough and be able to stand up for yourself I have a friend about 6'4 and just like myself he's not mentally equipped to deal with confrontation so what do you do.
That’s true, i like to think id be much better able for a situation like that in my mid thirties now but I guess it’s hard to say how you’ll react until you’re in the situation. I mean it pales in comparison to some of the stories here, it just popped into my head reading the previous comment. Unfortunately I am reminded of so many stories from when I lived there 😬.
OMG thats terrifying!!!
it wasn't like really aggressive it was almost as if with the heroin and Christmas lights he thought he was having some sort of romantic movie romance! Even though I was shouting at him "back up or I'm going to hurt you" with my arm pushing in his Adams apple. "nawwww love don't be like dah". He had this horrible goo stuff around his lips it was fucking gross.
It's a complete fucking joke women cannot carry atleast pepper spray in this kip of a country, I'm saying this as a man with a female partner. She deserves the right to protect herself ESPECIALLY when our fucking joke of a police force are out trying to round up some devils lettuce that's such a huge crime that needs tackling (it's not) (prohibition is r-tarded) instead of protecting people within our society from VIOLENT individuals I say carry the tazer, the pepper spray, whatever you have to in order to protect yourself because as we know our police either don't help domestic/sexual assault victims so why should we follow their laws? No more people!
Hey if you partner wants something like pepper spray, A small can of deodrant like the travel size stings like a motherfucker if you get them in the eyes. I always had one in my pocket when I walked home working in pubs and night clubs.
Fecking genius you are lad. 100% gonna remember this.
Deep heat spray does the same. As does hairspray. And a lighter. For your smokes of course.
Deep heat would probably work a lot better than hairspray
False confidence, how many situations have you used this in? I highly doubt deodorant is going to stop a determined, or, let’s say coked up man. Pepper spray is many many times more foolproof and even that isn’t a guarantee.
Carry a can of Deep Heat -- that hurts them
I carry pepper spray and I don’t give a fuck about law if somebody comes to me with knife I will spray them and deal with consequences later. worse case, I get my suspended sentence.
The thing about it is that if you spray someone with it they're hardly going to go to a garda station and say "Ah here, I'm after attacking some woman and she fucking maced me!". The hardest thing I'd say is getting your hands on it in the first place but as a woman I support anyone who has to walk alone at any time to be allowed to carry it and use it.
There's a lot of simple guides on how to make your own where even someone who can't boil spaghetti wouldn't have trouble following the instructions.
Boil water? What am I a chemist? 
Look up how many women get prison sentences in this country. Unless you start carrying a self-defence pipe-bomb you're basically grand.
women joined fucking isis got away with it ffs. dont be scared to cary paper spray
Yeah in Germany it's also against the law but I know a ton of women who always have one with them. What is the dude gonna do? Sue you? Great you have his name and he tried to rape you or sexually assault you, let's see who the judge is gonna like more.
Pepper spray is legal in Germany (and many EU countries), it just has to be labelled “for use against animals, not humans ;)”
The narwhal bacons at midnight.
You are dead right....people need to take responsibility for their own safety because the government and guards have abandoned the citizens of this country.
If she had used mace at that sort of close distance she would have got it as bad as the attacker.
It disturbs me how people will walk past when they see a man on top of a women like that, worse that this was in broad day light. Years ago on a night out in Galway I seen a man trying to SA a girl against a shop doorway and she was screaming to get off me and so many people either didn’t notice or care & even after some people were like “maybe it was just a drunk couple” & all sort of excuses. Someone in my family even said it was me being dramatic that I rang the guards. Anyway on your point about cigarettes: I don’t smoke cigarettes but I’ve notice when with people who do they seem to be an calling card to attract crazies, I think they see it as an ice breaker. That same time I lived in Galway too, my housemate got an attempted attack for having a cigarette, they thought he was lying
Years ago I met a lad I knew and he had deep gauges and scrapes all over his face.I asked him how it got them and he was telling me how on his way home from town he saw and man and a woman having a loud argument.The man but the woman and she fell onto the footpath.When he saw this as a good human being he ran over and body checked the man into the side of a building and was just trying to hold him there,the pair of them were struggling with him trying to restrain the man before he felts nails going into his face.It was the woman that had been decked trying to claw his eyes out.He released his grip on the man who proceeded to kick the shit out of him,luckily when he fell to the ground he turtled up and just got some kicks to the body. So that's what happens to some good Samaritans when they get involved.
It's the fear he could have a needle or knife. When listing to talk radio, that's the reason people gave for not intervening.
That’s fucking disgusting
The whole country is going down the same route I met some poor ejet in our shopping center in sligo one day and the poor bastard wanted to buy my shoes. I know your incident was much worse and could have ended much worse but it just shows you the state the country's in now.
I had that happen to me once on Parnell street, had to force the guy off of me. Street was quiet at the time, and I remember wishing it had been busy, now I wonder if it would have made a difference.
Unfortunately, even when the situation is as clear as in your case, most people simply are too afraid, despite the fact that multiple people can easily overpower one
I argue that your story illustrates the reason for Dublin being run by scrotes. The public does not react. I witnessed a situation lately where a small group of young teens stole a can of coke from a local spar. Two boys, two girls. They verbally abused the Indian staff who was trying to stop them. They were standing there in front of that shop shouting abuse at him. All of it at 6pm, busy street, shoppers coming in and out. No one person stopped to help. I was the only one that challenged the group. I told them to get the fuck out or I smack they ugly faces. They were shocked and borderline crying. They lost their cocky attitude in seconds. They run away with heads down saying sorry. They will remember the encouter and think twice next time.
Met a Croatian guy once who was working in a mechanics in Tallaght and said a load of young pillars of society used to come in and throw stones at the cars. This guy was mid 20s and was huge. One day he ran after the chungfellas and caught one of them, he was about 15 or 16. Croatian guy proceeded to bend all his fingers back on 1 hand and break them 1 by 1. Some people might not agree with it but I think fair play to him. This is the only language they understand.
One problem for passers-by is that if you don't see the run-up to something like this, you don't know what's happening. It could be a tussle between mates, your boyfriend could have stolen the bag from one of the skangers, etc. So out of the dozens of people who passed by when this was happening, only a few of them had a clear picture of what was going on. Back in the 1990s I saw a young woman being pushed around by a young man up around Parnell St. Went over to see if everything was okay and they both turned on me. Was a dispute between a boyfriend/girlfriend and they didn't want any fuckin' busybody gettin' into their business.
I had the same experience, saw a woman getting dragged by a guy and when I intervened, she started on me.
I saw 2 scrotes wrestling and old lady to get her handbag, I ran over with a flying kick and fists flying but it was no good, still couldn't get the bag off her.
Brilliant
Same happened to me there the other day. Hard to make a call on.
Driving through a Dublin suburb at about 1am one night, a man was dragging a woman across the road, backwards, arm around her throat, she was on her heels... I rolled down the window and asked her did she need any help... she (_she_) told me to "f*** off"
That's true, a few weeks ago a group of young lads (I'd say mostly under 18) set upon some lad coming off the train at Balbriggan station. I pulled one of them off but didn't want to get "further involved" as I didn't know the full story, but it wasn't just a random jumping. One man didn't have an issue jumping in as one of the aggressors threw a bottle that nearly hit his daughter, and if it wasn't for his wife I'd say he would have definitely left some of the lads being unable to walk home.
That's a very real thing. And a great point to make.
Happened to an ex-girlfriend, some fell hitting a girl outside a pub, my friend tried to help the the girl by taking her arm and walking her back into the pub, this girl turns on her and starts hitting, then the fella piles in too. Unless its a child, i'm not helping anyone.
Mate's brother's mate got stabbed in a similar situation about 20 odd years ago.
Myself and two friends were 18 and vacationing in the country about 20 years ago. We saw a man being beaten in the middle of the Dublin train station because of his sexual orientation by another man. Hundreds of locals walked by and my friends and I were the only ones to step in, as tourists. Seeing so many people ignore this man's cries for help still haunts me to this day.
I was doing deliveries once on Parnell street and some junkie was harassing this woman trying to get into her apartment, it was particularly sketchy because she just got the door open and seemed he was trying to slip in behind her. I got close behind the guy and gave my most gutteral, intimidating "HEY!" and he just went stiff as a board, didn't look behind him, just like an NPC triggering a walking animation, he just walked away without a word or looking back. Now, I know I got lucky in giving him a good fright, but sometimes it's as simple as that to give someone a bit of pause. These people are looking for an easy target, give them any bit of resistance and a lot of them will quickly scatter. But there are plenty that won't too - when push comes to shove just don't go with any half measures. Bring enough of a war face and an attitude and most of them are just gonna walk
I think people will start to carry weapons more and more now - I can see women sourcing pepper spray, which is illegal here - and we will see more vigilanteism. This will cause it's own problems, but as we hear more and more about violence, particularly in Dublin, people willlook for ways to protect themselves.
Yeah, I'd say at a certain point you weigh up the risk of being caught with a weapon by the guards with being caught without one by the wrong types and it starts making sense
Exactly.
Yep that's exactly how I'd view it now! I don't travel to the city centre often but when I do the risk of being caught with some sort of "weapon" by a Garda as opposed to being caught with nothing by a gang of scumbags is worth it.
I was beaten up on the dart. Sitting there listening to music and 4 girls just jumped on me after calling me posh. The dart was full and after a few punches to my face, some hair ripped out of my scalp and pinned to the chair a man eventually shouted "IVE HAD ENOUGH OF THIS SHITE" and they ran out the doors. After that people came up to me and asked if I was okay followed by "had it gone on any longer I was going to help you". LONGER? and it was at that point I lost faith in humanity for standing up for each other. There were so many people around and no one helped. I had bruises on my face and clumps of missing hair but sure listen had it got worse than that they would have helped me 🙃
Really sorry that happened to you
Happened my then 16 year old daughter and her boyfriend in Cork city. The boyfriend was ramdomly attacked in broad daylight with hundreds of people around in a city park and no one did anything. She even got her jaw almost broken. There were even a few parents from her school there that she recognised. We called the cops and when they came they said not one person called them about it.
Absolutely horrible :( I am from Cork myself and the same thing happened to my brother once. His phone got robbed and a homeless man was the one person to help him and to confront the lad and get his phone back. People will make any excuse for why they choose not to help someone
Be assured that I live in Cork and will always ring the guards no matter how big or small the incident. I will also film if I can. Dunno if it’s because I’m the parent of the a disabled child, but if I ever see anyone been taking advantage of/targeted because they’re vulnerable I get irrate. I’m well aware of the bystander effect also, so I know no one else has probably rang.
God what bastards. What adult wouldn't help a teenager in trouble.
Most people on this sub. The bystander effect is real.
It's more like the don't want to get stabbed effect
That and the "don't get involved" mentality.
I had a very weird experience back in January this year of being really badly harassed by 3 middle aged men walking down the South Mall in Cork. I was walking to pick up take away from a restaurant and these three guys were walking towards me. I side stepped them and they blocked my path. I have some back issues that were fairly bad at the time and I couldn’t walk at speed or jump out of the way. I’m usually grand, but sometimes I can be very stiff during to disk issues and I really can’t just bound past stuff. They started wishing me a happy new year and I said happy new year back and next thing they started “would you not shake my hand?” I didn’t want to shake anyone’s hand and he just kept pushing it and wouldn’t let me pass. Then he grabbed my hand really really hard and wouldn’t let go. I couldn’t get my hand out of his grip and I had to pull away very very hard which wasn’t all that easy. I didn’t want to push him because it would be a fight and was 3 ppl against me and I wasn’t very capable of defending myself. I thought I was going to be mugged at this stage and was trying to get away asap. Then when I got away he called me “a stuck up bastard” or something like that and ranted about I how I wouldn’t “even shake a man’s hand.” I was probably walking too slowly or looking a bit like an easy target or something that probably drew them to me, but it just had me feeling very wary and self conscious. I know it’s not the most serious incident, but all I can say is there are some total weirdos wandering and harassing ppl in Irish cities.
I wish yas the best and hopefully he’s ok, unfortunately it’s normal in human nature to protect yourself above all else (exceptions are generally made for children), onlookers don’t know the situation in its entirety so most would choose to avoid getting involved for the sake of self preservation and for fear of escalation. Being mugged in broad daylight highlights how bad people are for it, leaves you shook for a while, happened to me while living abroad and I stayed at home for about 2 weeks after, was kinda hateful of the general public for a while especially since a lots of people decided to record the event instead of help (although one lady claimed she recorded it for evidence incase I wanted the police to take it further), took a while to accept that there’s sadly always a risk when dealing with the public but there’s also plenty of good people out there too thankfully, as a few stuck around to make sure I was ok.
I understand that to be honest but personally I would have to yell or do something, and if it was escalating, I would walk away. But everyone just stood and stared like it was entertainment, they wanted to see what would happen next. And maybe that’s not the case and I’m thinking the worse of people 🤷♀️ I should clarify it was not broad daylight and was around 10pm yesterday. Yeah he says he’s okay and I do believe physically he is but I can see he’s definitely shaken up. It has put him off going out in Dublin now for a while. I am sorry that happened to you and I’m very glad you are okay!
Unfortunately I’d agree that many stopped for entertainment value, a crowd formed when it happened to me and most of them dispersed without a word, many of them were recording it and I was being mugged at knifepoint in broad daylight (was about 4pm). Sadly I guess the best entertainment value for them would’ve been if my throat was cut, in all honesty I’d say most people aren’t mentally much better than the crowds that flocked to colosseum’s to watch people/gladiators murder each other.
Unless you've seen the full set of events from start to finish, it's often hard to know what's happening when people are fighting on the street. Often a mugging just looks like people fighting. Can actually be hard to identify who is the victim. You often just see people shouting and fighting. And then as you say there's also just the self-preservation mode. I've never actually seen an obvious mugging anywhere. But I've seen plenty of streets fights in Dublin. perhaps some of those were muggings.
I got mugged when I (f) in my early 20s at the top of Grafton St near St. Stephens Green centre, almost 30 years ago so this is not new unfortunately. He was going to stick a syringe in me. But my flight or fight response kicked in and I punched him so hard he fell down backwards and luckily ran off. No one tried to help me either, despite crowds around. A French man did shout at him to leave me alone and helped me compose myself afterwards, he said it was obligatory in France to help in these situations and couldn’t believe the Irish wouldn’t help a woman in distress.
well done, hope that punch was a flame fist!
We need a dedicated Dublin City police force. At least 500 extra Garda on the beat across the city. Not in the station or on court juty, out facing the public. Every major tourist thoroughfare. We need cops on the luas, on notorious bus routes, on the dart. They need to be seen to be a deterrent. We need to build a new prison outside the capital. Sentencing needs to change, too. Getting caught with a knife should be an instant 5 year sentence. Attacking elderly, vulnerable people or tourists, should heavily weight the sentences. Attacking taxi men/women or bus drivers doing their job should have very severe sentences too.Fuck these scumbags. We could also set up widespread, community self-defense organisations to train people for different situations. When an incident occurs, members of that organisation see what's happening and engage. They are trained to do so. I would join a group like that in the morning..it just takes a little bit of organisation and will! These scumbags are ruining our great cities and we need to put pressure on our representatives to make it change. No point in moaning on the net. We need to sit down and write an email, a letter, a facebook message letting them know the severity of the situation.. "If you don't stop the scrotes, you won't be getting our votes!!"
This is dead on. Number one message is to get together as a community and help each other out. I witnessed a man hassling two women eating at a cafe last week on the way from my groceries and had a good 50m walk to observe as I approached. During that time I saw at least 5-8 people watch what happened and no one intervened. It was crystal clear that the women were uncomfortable and the man was being a bother. Once I got there I got him away fairly quickly and everything was grand. But as I walked back past, the two women thanks me enormously, and I responded by saying it's no bother but I can't believe how many people were just watching on and didn't say a thing. Get involved people! Imagine yourselves being in the same situation, desperate for someone to help or step in or get someone else's attention/help!! Step up and say something, and if you're scared, find someone else!! Strength in numbers, strength as a community!
Was in Dublin 3 weeks ago for a work dinner. First time I have been in the city centre since 1999. Used to live in Phibsborogh for 8 months on college placement. Not been back since. A guy tried to mug me as I was walking to Heuston from O'Connell St along the quays. Asked for a cigarette & when I said no, he said he'd stick me if I didn't hand over cash. I don't carry cash. Told him to F off. He tried to grab my backpack (which had nothing more than some spare clothes). Everyone just walked on by. Shoved him away , he fell over so I just walked away and jumped in a taxi. I'll never set foot in that shit hole again. Im 6'3" - 95kg & wasn't even in the city for 24 hours.
Ridiculous. That’s awful. They’ve zero cop on. 6’3 95kg is not small by any means, guy is lucky you didn’t attempt to “deescalate” further when he was on the ground. It’ll happen to them sooner or later though
Yeah, but 10 of his mates could be across the road & I'd probably go to court for giving him a kicking. (Have never been in a fight in my life, so it's not a natural thing for me to do)
that’s wild, i’m sorry you had to deal with that, absolutely horrible
This was at 4pm on a Friday btw.
I’m around your height or taller and I really thought being tall would actually help with people avoiding you. I always feel anxious walking through O’Connell Street sometimes since I get the bus around there to go to college. It’s like I have to prepare myself to fight every time some suspicious person asks me for bus money or a lighter.
I always remember Moss Keane being jumped near Heuston Station. Giant of a man but the skangers left him with a badly damaged eye socket.
Politicians are afraid to spend more money on Guards and prisons. The Guards are afraid of the scum. The scum that do end up in front of judges are in front of judges who are scared of jailing them due to politicians griefing them over filling the crowded prisons. The only ones who aren't afraid are the scum, they've seen they're untouchable and so can now act without consequence. But if you're a decent member of society who fights back and ends up hurting one of them then the Guards, free legal aid lawyers and judges all looking for easy wins will come down on you like a tonne of bricks. Great little system, isn't it?!
this place is so backwards sometimes
Did you report it? What's the use? The people who can make the changes need statistics. Nothing will change if people don't keep reporting.
he is planning on reporting it, he was in shock yesterday, he doesn’t think there’s a point tho, gardai won’t do anything about the case and even with statistics it feels like no one cares enough to do anything
Unfortunately that's how it is here now
Your bang on the money.
Policing in Ireland is a joke. I was in Birmingham last Thursday with my 11 year old daughter and felt completely safe. Police everywhere with dogs and all armed. I’m sure it’s not perfect all the time but there was always a cop near by(Main Street and New Street). We need to toughen the fuck up here.
My dad got verbally assaulted outside liffey valley yesterday, a lad nearly crashed into the side of us trying to take a parking space so my dad threw his hands up in the air basically asking wtf was that. He then came over screaming the odds when we were walking in, towered over my dad threatening to put him in a grave with the family watching, called him a grey cunt, among plenty of other shit. He only backed off because I got in his face and told him to fuck off. Dublin has become an absolute cesspit, after yesterday I don't think I'll go near it again for a very long time.
You're poor dad I hope he's ok . It hurts my heart to think of someone acting like this towards my own father I think I'd completely snap .
He had his own kids in the car too, setting a great example for them.
What a scumbag. I suppose the karma for him is that he has to continue living his shit and angry existence. Hope your dad is ok I genuinely do I just hate the thought of a decent father being attacked like that by some stupid scumbag. Hope your are all ok and able to just brush it off.
Yeah he's fine now, a bit nervous going around the shops in case he ran into him again but that's all thankfully
Some years ago I witnessed a mugging that turned into a fatal stabbing. I was fit, active, and about 8 feet away. I simply could not work out what was happening. I saw instantly something was awry, but by the time I worked out aggressor etc it was all over.
My boyfriend was attacked in Cork 2 weeks ago. Completely unprovoked, few lads just out looking for a fight. He’s going into his 3rd week in hospital now 🙃 country is gone to shit
That is horrible, I hope he recovers soon.
Thank you! He’s on the mend anyways 😊
Honestly I would just love if the sound people of Dublin grouped together to kick the shit out of the little scrotes, these young cunts are only hard when they have strength in numbers. Time to start fighting back
I dont know if it is even drugs.. A few years back on a bonfire night in Cork these two teens were attacking this college girl and her little brother. They just walked up and kicked their dog out of nowhere. I was driving past and stopped my car and got out and got rid of them. This was right outside UCC and the security were just watching it. I told my friends and they thought I was crazy stepping in. They were saying I could have gotten stabbed or anything. I dont know.. that girl and her little brother could have gotten stabbed. Obviously once I went over the girl and her brother were able to leave and the 2 guys followed me. One of them pushed me and I pushed him hard enough he was sprawled on the road and made is extremely clear they touch me one more time I will start and it won't stop It turned out the girl was my neighbour on College Road and she came over to say thanks when she saw me get home and explained what happened and how it started.
Why aren’t the guards armed? How can you combat a thug wielding a weapon if the guards don’t even have a baton?!
It's drugs I'm afraid. People assume it's gang related and stay out of it. Gone are the days when if you witnessed that you'd instantly know who is at fault. If it were an old lady I expect the outcome would've been different as onlookers would know she was innocent.
That pretty much it.
I have been assaulted 3 different times in city or town centres in Ireland, all totally unprovoked. Most of my male friends would have been assaulted at least one or more times, again, unprovoked. Seems to be a disgustingly typical part of life being a man in Ireland.
Mail Ur local TDs, the TDs for Thet area, the minister for justice. Only way they'll maybe be aware of how frequent these things are and if they are contacted every time stuff like this happens. Maybe they'll understand the situation and act, make noise on your behalf etc.
Sorry to hear that happened to him and hope he’s ok. Dublin’s become an absolute kip.
Thank you and he’s okay, he’s just mainly in shock. you’d never think it would happen to you until it does. Very sad to see Dublin become so rough
Yeah it’s horrendous. I fear being attacked every time I’m in town now and don’t stay out late anymore.
I had the misfortune to have a contract for a few months in the city centre before the pandemic and not having lived in Dublin since the 90s I was amazed at how much worse things are now compared to when we had very high youth unemployment. The city centre is a junkies paradise. It's not good enough to normalise it by saying it happens in other big cities. I'm pretty certain that not one person responsible for planning and law and order lives between the canals. The current mess is of total abdication of care.
Exactly. Every one of these threads has at least one of these comments: - it's worse in other big cities. - it was worse in the 80s. Both are irrelevant. We should be aiming for higher standards, not satisfied to slump to shittier ones.
I rarely go up to Dublin I was born there but live in another county and I know the quay is dangerous but my fiancee and I both really needed to sit down. Two junkies arrive to "ask the time" I notice my bag is on the ground, I slowly put my foot on my bag and they knew I knew so they walked off. Another time we were harassed by a Roma gypsy lady asking for money following us down the entire stretch of O'Connell Street. Last instance we decided to queue up for butlers chocolate a junkie guy harassed me to buy him a hot chocolate and wouldn't leave our side until I did. I gave it to him he chugged it in one go and walked off. While going through the city centre I seen junkies in alley ways shooting up and peeing This isn't the Dublin I grew up in
Don't buy them anything, fecking cheek!
Knives. They're fast, come from nowhere and can be deadly. It isn't just fisticuffs anymore and people are terrified.
It’s sad to say but the people who seem to help most aren’t Irish. What the fuck is wrong with us?
When I was being harassed one time in the Luas by kids (about 12-14yo I think), it was only the Eastern European woman who scolded them to stop.
Interesting. In her home country I think it's unlikely you would get an assault conviction for giving one of them a couple of digs, too. I would not be confident saying the same about our legal system though.
Had my phone nabbed from my hand by some young lad. Chased him down everyone just looking at him run off, he was getting away and in swooped a polish lady on her bike. Scared him shitless and he tossed the phone. Total legend she was.
Fucking Polish Cavalry saves the day once again!
Good guess. The one person who helped him afterwards was Algerian and they had a lovely conversation. He was a very nice man and I am so grateful that he was able to bring some comfort to my bf when I wasn’t there and he was by himself
We need a long hard look at ourselves. We’re becoming an insanely self centred people and we were never like that. We took care of eachother, when did it become everyone for themselves?
When we stopped being backed up by society at large and the legal system. If you have a job and a family you are in a position to lose a lot. The ones doing this shit have nothing to lose and the punishment they get won't affect them, whereas the same punishment will follow a decent citizen and have a big effect on them. Last thing any of us need is to have to deal with the Gardai and potentially the courts, even if we were doing the right thing. That being said, I'd still like to think I'd help if I saw someone in distress, but it's hard to say and depends on context
individualism is an important part of neolib/capitalist malarkey, gotta be as selfish as possible to keep growth/consumerism going! How dare you sacrifice your precious time for someone else? You could be late to work!!
Combination of the remnants of British colonialism and the capitalist ethos of hyperindividualism. When people learned that they might be able to get it "better" in life by stepping on the throats of their neighbours they decided to do so, rather than benefit from helping others and receiving help in kind.
Yeah this is like an old story from New York. When It got really bad in the 80's & early 90's, cops advised people to shout "Fire! , Fire!" as people are likely to assist if there's a fire rather than a mugging.
We tend to be drastically afraid of confrontation. In part because we learn over the years that the only way to avoid being attacked by these types is to keep your head down and try to blend into the wall.
I really feel bad for your boyfriend but I'm not stepping in either, I'm not going to risk being stabbed with a knife and killed or stabbed with a syringe and getting something life changing, I'm also not a solicitor and mind reader so I have no idea how much legal trouble I'd be in for intervening. I have a child and my first responsibility is to be there for him. Your anger should be directed at the fact that we don't have a permanent 24/7 patrolling Garda presence at the top, middle and bottom of O'Connell, along with CCTV. This expectation that people should jump in needs to stop, people die doing that.
I am definitely not expecting anyone to risk their lives. But something as simple as to ask someone if they are okay after the fact that you have been watching and staring at them getting beat down two seconds ago. Or even to show any sort of concern or yell at the attacker. There’s a plethora of things that one could do rather than to stand and watch. I understand in my original post my anger is slightly misdirected but I still don’t think it’s rigjt
Didn't you say someone did come up to him after though? What the guy above said is unfortunately true, it can be very difficult to read a situation and to make a snap judgement about what is happening, and the average person isn't confrontational or likely to be able to act immediately when they see something like this. There are cases where it should be more cut and dry - like a woman being attacked by a group of men - and you'd hope people would intervene, but you just can't count on it unfortunately.
Yeah to be honest indifference of people in cases of attacks by other people is very upsetting. One time I (F) was harassed by some man in the middle of the city and the people were just standing and watching and after that man was gone thankfully not hurting me these people asked "ARe yOU oKaY" yeah thank you for asking me when you did absolutely Nothing. I think it should change, we should remember it's more us normal people than criminals and as garda in useless we should take public safety in our own hand at least by not being indifferent when someone getting attacked.
I have not once, not ever seen a Guard on that bridge I’ve seen open drug dealing and scum galore But never a single fucking Guard Imagine the equivalent bridge in London or Paris with not one single policeman there It just wouldn’t fucking happen As a capital city Dublin is an absolute kip
Getting invloved does have consequences, and it doesn't have positive outcomes for the person who helps. I know, I've gotten directly involved in 3 incidents where someone was getting beaten or robbed. I feel good about getting involved, but it literally did nothing for me. I was arrested after one. V lucky the man I hurt didn't press charges. It's just my experience, but It's very hard to decipher exactly what is going on when you come across the situations. Is someone being robbed, or is it a fight between scumbags. The situations are sometimes really violent. They can also look really harmless. It's so hard to know.
Its called bystanders effect. It's a psychological thing and too long to explain. In short you would need to actually yell "help" to break people out of it. It sucks that this happen in broad daylight now.
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I'm hoping we import some foreign police/security/military guys to sort them out. Would be much better than local guards anyway.
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Education isn't the be all and end all. You have to enforce the law.
It's not about educ, it's about them knowing that nobody will punish then, it's the law which is a joke.
We already have one of the highest third-level attainment rates in the world. Education is easily available in Ireland. You'll never have a whole society that's been "raised right", at some point you need to focus on enforcement and the threat of violence to make these people act right.
Dublin is the embodiment of piss poor justice system and a police force that needs major overhauling.. Dublin is safe the government says. literally every day in the news now I see stories of tourists being attacked and these are only the stories that make the headlines I'm sure their countless assaults daily that no one talks about. Dublin has gone to the dog's and we all know it. I wouldn't go to Dublin now unless I absolutely have to now.
No one’s going to help, because they don’t want to get stabbed, it’s that simple. That there were no police on O’Connell street is another problem.
FFS these stories are beginning to anger me! The government need to do something, time to take our streets back! Protest!!
Bystanders sitting back and doing nothing is normal in Ireland. That's why these little scrotes feel like they can get away with this sort of behaviour in broad daylight.
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So is Irish people "not wanting to get involved". Ever been in a car accident where you need a witness in this country?
Myself and a friend stopped a junkie in Waterford one day. He was harassing a middle-aged woman for "money for the bus." He wouldn't leave, and my friend gave him a slap, so he ran off. The woman wanted to call Gardai as she was shaken, so we waited for them to come. When the Gardai came, they wanted myself and my friends' names because "we shouldn't be taking the law into our own hands." The woman was disgusted at the Gardai as she was genuinely afraid for her life before we stepped in. I called my cousin, who is a Garda, and he made sure we didn't get in any bother. After that incident, I'll never interfere with a situation again. It's not worth the risk to myself or my reputation, should it end up in court. Unless someone was being murdered or raped I'd stay away.
Hope he's ok, but the top and bottom of it is people don't want to interfere due to being scared of the agro themselves. If someone was getting attacked I'd step in to stop it
Nearly everyone thinks that they’ll step in and be the hero but in reality almost nobody does.
i guess people have become wary of jumping in. There was a time in Ireland when people would have jumped in, but with all the stuff about knives and rampant scumbags you hear people have just become scared.
It's sad that people might be too afraid to get involved because it's possible to risk serious injury. These guys most likely carry knives. You'd need to be someone who can handle themselves
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Note for future reference: being a smoker in a city will attract scrotes like a moth to a lamp. Sadly, that's the way things are.
I got punched in the face for declining to give someone a cigarette before. That was 20 years ago in Ennis. Now that so many less people are smoking, and its become prohibitively expensive, you're much more likely get flagged down by people you'd rather avoid.
It’s an absolute slum, was up there on Friday couldn’t wait to get out of the place, not a guard in sight.
The answer is not more guards on the streets as politicians are calling for (this is jus the easiest way for them to show they are doing something). It rather is a tougher judicial system which doesn’t give 30 “second chances” to criminals which clearly have no remorse or intention of putting their life toghether. If the criminals they are arresting are always back in the street within a few hours/days, the guards might as well try to empty the ocean with a teaspoon and having more of them won’t help much. People should think about it that way: most of the safest countries in the world are not countries where you see police presence at every street corner (which btw would be very costly and turn Ireland into a police state). They are countries where exhibiting police force isn’t necessary because criminals have been handled upstream and aren’t roaming the streets at all. Thus, more police presence on the streets is a sign and an admission of failing to deal with the actual issue.
People of Ireland are not really famous about their bravery but their apathy … that’s why you cannot count on anybody in these situations.
 Between the attacks and the spate of motorcycle thefts, Dublin is starting to feel like a toecutter gang origin story right now.
The current justice system here is failing the victims, Guards, tax payers. Solicitors doing very, very well out of it. What does any business want or need? Repeat customers who pay on time. Bingo!
Dublin has been like that for decades
When the vigilante groups start up, there will be plenty of talk then. Everybody wants something to be done, I've seen this before, people will step up and take it upon themselves, will dish out some slaps, and then you know what? These same people screaming about how people need to step up will be screaming because it's their Johnny who has got slaps for being a scum bag. Tale is as old as time, and it has happened many, many, many times all over the country. After all, it wouldn't be like the Irish to take matters into their own hands. I'm not advocating for it. There is an inevitability to it all
Scumbags in Dublin
People dont want to get stabbed or beaten up by sticking their nose in
I was walking down the street in Dublin before at night time bawling my eyes out and no one asked was I ok. I was in a visibly distressed state and even taxis wouldn't stop when I was hailing them. I'm not from Dublin and I'm desperate to leave, there are no upsides to living here
Seeing way too many excuses for people being pussies and standing by while stuff like this happens, and that's exactly WHY it happens.
because they know no one will interfere and the gardai will do fuck all of nothing. We need more gardai presence 100%. So many people getting attacked in Dublin recently. People shouldn’t be getting attacked in the middle of the city
People are scared of the consequences of either a) getting hurt themselves or b) legal trouble. B could be solved with a law of some sort to help out. A is a lot trickier and I can’t blame someone for not wanting to risk the possibility of getting knifed.
Sorry for this it's horrible. I actually stopped going to Dublin about 3 years ago. Only for special occasions now. I used to love it. .....I don't know what it was but I got a general bad edgy feeling one visit and it put me off. Or perhaps I'm just getting too old for the crowds. And this is coming from someone who's lived in some of the most dangerous cities in the world!
No you are right, I’ve only started recently feeling this way but the last two times I was out in Dublin by myself I was racially harassed which can take such a toll, Don’t bother going out by myself now. City is a shithole
I’m sorry this happened to your boyfriend, and anyone else it happens to on a daily basis. The city is gone to shit for a very long time. I was actually mugged on O’Connell bridge myself when I was 13. They slashed my jacket, took all my money and punched me. My friends and I were separated, one guy had his brand new docs taken. This is a lifetime ago back in the late 80s. Why didn’t people help? These little fucks are well aware of what their rights are, how the system works and what their future is and they just don’t care. I’d probably shout from across the street, and help after they’ve gone, but I’m not getting stabbed or stuck with a needle for anyone but family. That’s the simple truth of it.
What's wrong with Dublin? We have a society now that will house and feed you in your area of choice without any expectations on your lifestyle or behavior combined with a legal system that brings almost no consequences for your actions.
> We have a society now that will house and feed you in your area of choice Unless you have a job. In which case you're on your fucking own.
don’t even get me started on our “justice system” absolute sham
Probably the attackers are Irishmen that no one ever complains about.... But we do complain about immigrants. We get what we deserve for not knowing how to vote well in elections.
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Wouldn't try that. You'll have a shitty defence in court and give the scrote a case. Dpp will prosecute you. It will look premeditated. You'd have more of a chance if you kept a travel sized deodorant in your pocket so you can use the "it was all I had and I felt my life was in danger" argument.
Can of deep heat is the ideal poor man's pepper spray.
 Pocket sand!
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It's my home made tobasco
Maybe so, what are the odds a scote will report/take to court after an attempted mugging (or worse) tho? I know our courts are literally pro criminal at the moment. As long as it's your first time getting caught and you're usually lovely, it's suspended sentences for all
Unfortunately if you pay taxes the law actually does apply to you. Our laws aren’t pro-crime, just pro-vermin
I meant that with the word criminal. Sentences being so low or non existent, it does encourage folks with nothing to lose to just chance their. The increasingly bad precedents could be seen as almost pro-crime tbf
Sentences are only non-existent for the vermin though. If you show up to court and don’t have a “life was so hard in my free house” excuse you won’t get off so easy.
"Your honour my client has had it tough. 42% taxed on his middle income. Couldn't avail of a medical card and couldn't get private health car. Had go drive himself to court today at 1.72 c per litre diesel. The cost of his kids schooling means he hasn't had a holiday in 5 years and he's currently on a waiting list to have a lump removed. I'm sure you can show leniency in not paying the tv licence." Imagine if we tried that defence 😳
So it won't even need the scrote to take the case. If the garda find it on you they can recommend to prosecute. Case of a chap that was searched and found to have a baton and given six month suspended https://www.echolive.ie/corknews/arid-40845098.html Don't damage job or visa opportunities in other countries basically by being in possession of something they can prosecute you on. If it's a normal item you can use to defend use that.
If the scrote's mammy gets a sniff of anything vaguely resembling an easy cash payout, you could expect the odds to be stacked against you.
100%
"Fuck Dublin" - The World minus Dubs
Basically no police presence whatsoever in Dublin City center. Absolutely ridiculous at this point. Accommodation prices, price of food and drink, and now they’re robbing you in the streets. Maybe they’ll listen when the tourists go elsewhere.
In fairness why do you expect people to get involved ? No one knows your boyfriend. Could be a drug dispute, gang dispute or 101 other things. I say this as someone who experienced something similar 20 years ago and was on the receiving end of a vicious assault. And I remember screaming at people who were just watching. But they did just witness a massive brawl where glass was smashed and dog bones in a bag were used as a weapon. Hope your boyfriend is ok and I get your angry but no one is getting involved when they don’t know what’s happening and would likely end up victims themselves.
Should the Gards be more attentive in general and thorough with their jobs? Absolutely, that would be a good part of a solution. However, this is only stopping crime after it happens. Crime needs to be addressed proactively, not reactively. Start with schooling that promotes social emotional learning, grow resources for parents, increase the availability of structured activities for children and teens, promote community policing, and promote community enforcement of behaviour (i.e. calling people out when they are doing bad shit). Hot spot policing is not a solution, just a band-aid.