Drugs, drink and the stench of urine are alive, alive oh

[Eamonnca1]

Drugs, drink and the stench of urine are alive, alive oh

Tuesday May 10 2011

Queen Elizabeth and Barack Obama are on their way to Dublin, but we won't be be in a hurry to show them sections of the city centre where drug dealers, drunks and beggars rule the roost. John Meagher reports. Photos by Dave Meehan and Ronan Lang.

It is a gloriously sunny May morning in Dublin and there's considerable drama happening outside Ireland's national theatre, The Abbey. A crowd of vagrants __ their faces ravaged by years of drug addiction __ roar obscenities at each other. They seem to be arguing over the final dregs of cider in a large plastic bottle. One of them __ a woman who looks like she's in her 40s but is probably much younger __ swings a punch at an especially emaciated man and keels over in the effort.

The commotion lasts for five minutes until they split into two groups __ the smaller bunch making their way unsteadily towards Eden Quay, the other along Marlborough Street in a northbound direction. They leave behind a trail of litter __ including the empty cider bottle.

The Abbey Street Luas stop is less than 100 metres away from the National Theatre __ and roughly the same distance again from O'Connell Street, the home of Clery's famous department store, the Spire and the Gresham Hotel.

Among the waiting crowd of shoppers and tourists is another group of drug addicts. They are hustled around the ticket machines, loudly demanding change from nervous customers.

As the tram arrives, an addict steps absent-mindedly in front of it and the driver is forced to slam on the brakes and blare the horn. That seems to be the cue for his companions to join him on the track, blocking the progress of the Luas.

What is perhaps surprising, as the tourist season kicks off and on the eve of VIP visits by Queen Elizabeth and US President Barack Obama, is how commonplace scenes like this have become on Dublin's streets.

Ireland needs the tourist euro like never before. Last year was a disaster for visitor numbers with figures showing a 15pc drop in Irish trips by overseas visitors from the previous year to 5.6 million people, and Dublin took a major hit. it lost 500,000 visitors compared to 2009.

Yet, for shoppers, workers, business owners and tourists, large swathes of Dublin city centre have become areas to be hurried through __ while side-stepping drug dealers, drug users, drunks, beggars and feral children.

Apart from a few well-heeled thoroughfares, many people, locals and visitors alike, say they feel deeply uncomfortable with what they see. They feel unsafe. They feel threatened.

Daylight or night time, it makes little difference. many of the city's streets are shabby and menacing.

Just listen to Pat Liddy, a respected Dublin historian who conducts walking tours of the city: ""There are sections of it east of O'Connell Street that are virtually no-go and even around the so-called affluent Grafton Street, there are problems. The lane-ways off it are the pits. It's all very dispiriting for a proud Dub like me."

In London and New York, huge steps have been taken to clean up tourist areas such as Leicester Square and Times Square, with intensive policing and anti-dereliction schemes. Critics say Dublin now needs the same fresh ideas to arrest its dramatic slide.

Perhaps the most startling observation comes from Ciara Sugrue of Dublin Tourism, who, in a blunt admission, said of the city: "Anti-social behaviour rules the roost."

Angry that their funding from Fáilte Ireland is minuscule compared to the rest of the country, Dublin Tourism says a run-down capital is having a hugely detrimental impact on our potential.

Sugrue points out that Dublin was the sixth most popular European capital in 2007 but the city has now slipped out of the top 10 to 11th.

Senior gardaí admit there are problems, but they insist the force is making progress.

Yet the evidence is hard to ignore. The owner of one tourism business said some of his visitors have vowed never to return to Dublin.

"They're shocked by the poverty, the on-street drinking, the urination, the petty thefts," said Cathal O'Connell of Paddy Wagon, which caters for backpackers.

The city's increasingly ugly face can be seen at first hand in a long walk around the city centre __ north and south of the river __ a litany of nastiness in broad daylight.

In just a few daylight hours last week, I witnessed what many people in the city see every day: a drug deal in a laneway off Eden Quay, as two young men exchanged a tiny plastic bag and money.

Nearby a man lay prostrate on the pretty boardwalk near the Ha'penny Bridge. Under the blooming hanging baskets, he lay prone with blood and vomit soaking his tattered T-shirt.

Near Mulligan's famous pub on Poolbeg Street __ a must for any visitor __ a man dropped his trousers in broad daylight and urinated, his waste streaking the pavement just metres away from disgusted female passers-by.

Minutes later, near Mabbot Lane, teenage girls from an English lacrosse team stood transfixed as a drug-addled couple verbally abused each other in front of them. The female was accusing her partner of beating their child.

Nearby, another tourist favourite __ a line of Dublin Bikes __ was under assault. A group of feral children, oblivious to the onlookers, hacked away at the machines's tyres, saddles and bells, in an attempt to render them unusable.

Everyone seems to have a story. Tom O'Neill and his wife, Anna, a couple in their 50s, were visiting last week from upstate New York, their first visit to Tom's ancestral country. Both were shocked at how grubby Dublin city is and the extent of public drinking __ a criminal offence in the US.

The couple had been looking for the famous Pro-Cathedral in Marlborough Street. "We're staying near Merrion Square and that part of the Dublin is lovely," Tom said, "but I can't get over the difference on this side of the river. I'd no idea there were so many homeless people in Ireland, and there seems to be a major drug problem, too.

"The concierge told us to be careful about coming to this side of town at night time and I can see exactly what he means. We don't feel very safe now. The camera is staying in the bag."

It was a feeling mirrored by Rie and Michael, a pair of marketing students from Denmark, staying in a hostel on Gardiner Street. Neither wanted to walk the area at night.

"Copenhagen has its problems too," Michael said, "but you don't really see it in the centre of the city where the tourists are. I can't believe how many people seem to be drunk in the middle of the day, falling about."

The pair laughed when told Dublin 1 was __ long before the introduction of postcodes __ the most prestigious part of the city. "Well, it definitely does not feel like that now," Rie said. "That must have been a long time ago."

It is indeed difficult to imagine that this part of our capital was far more fashionable than the southside in the early 18th century. It was only when the Duke of Leinster built his imposing townhouse on what's now Kildare Street that the moneyed set followed him across the Liffey.

The north inner city has never truly recovered. O'Connell Street may have had a much-needed facelift in recent years, but the streets off it remain down at heel. It's clear that today's issues are not just about policing. Dublin City Council has much to answer for too.

One need only venture into Sackville Place to see how derelict this part of Dublin truly is. Once you go past the Clery's building you step back to a world that remained untouched by the Celtic Tiger.

There's a desolate row of shops, almost all unoccupied. Last week, an old man lay sleeping in a doorway. The lane near it, Earl Place, is so uninviting, even the homeless avoid it.

I retraced my footsteps and walked down Marlborough Street. There was a persistent smell of urine and it was impossible to walk up the street without noticing the sheer numbers of drug addicts congregating here.

Drug treatment centres pockmark Dublin 1 __ and this is the result, on a once magnificent street parallel to O'Connell Street and just 100m away.

At the corner where Marlborough, Talbot and North Earl streets meet, staff who work in the shops here are on constant alert. Just a stone's throw from the Pro-Cathedral and the HQ of the Department for Education, the area is a notorious hang-out for drug dealers and shoplifters.

West of O'Connell Street and it's much the same story. Middle Abbey and Henry streets are comparatively free of anti-social behaviour, but once you reach Wolfe Tone Park (behind the Jervis Shopping Centre) and environs, it's a depressingly familiar story.

Last week, the park was teeming with tourists and workers having lunch, yet the mood was dominated by a group of drunk men, congregating near The Church pub, and a large group of teenage boys, shouting foul language at strangers and themselves.

Up at Smithfield, a plaza re-developed at vast public expense, the smell of failure was everywhere. The Lighthouse Cinema has closed and numerous other businesses are boarded up. The square was deserted.

I completed my walk on Middle Abbey Street and watched a group of Romany gypsies harassing customers having coffee outside Arnotts. Anti-begging legislation was introduced last year and has been a qualified success, but gangs are still operating across the city.

It's a scene __ like so many others I witnessed on the Dublin tourist trail __ that is almost guaranteed to make visitors say: "We'll never come back again. And we'll advise our friends never to visit Dublin ... "

Tomorrow

The senior Garda chief responsible for a large part of the north-inner city gives his views. We also speak to Lord Mayor Gerry Breen, a city drug clinic, an outspoken business leader and a visionary planner at Dublin City Council.

- John Meagher

Had a very brief visit to Dublin on my last trip home.  O'Connell St looked a bit shabby all right, despite all the nice paving and street furniture.  Couldn't get over the absence of cops though. I was in Times Square last year and there seemed to be a handful of NYPD officers standing at every corner - and the place felt 100% safe.  You'd be afraid of dropping a chewing gum wrapper in a place like that, which is how it should be.

[mannix]

Lots of towns in Ireland are dangerous at night, the gardai are powerless.

[Bogball XV]

Lots of towns in Ireland are dangerous at night, the gardai are powerless.

Aye, no go areas everywhere nowadays.  I blame the celtic tiger, since thon big pussy cat fcuked away off to south east asia or wherever, young wans have been going on the rampage all over the country.  It's cos they don't work no more and cos their dole is so big they're able to afford to buy new guns every week.  They can also afford to buy huge bottles of cider which they drink.  Guns and cider are not a good mix as the gardai have discovered recently.
In order to go out at night nowadays you need a gun yersell, this prevalence of guns amongst the whole population adds to what is already a powderkeg situation.

In fact so bad is the situation that it's nearly unbelievable that dublin had it's first gun death this year the other day when some coked up young drug dealers were playing a game of russian roulette.

Still, it wasn't like this back in my day (being a nordie, it was actually unsafe in some areas 20 yrs ago).

[Eamonnca1]

Sure some of them towns up north are like the wild west when the clubs and pubs close. You're taking your life in your hands just walking home and there's not a cop in sight. And that's how I remember it being 20 odd years ago too.

[Blowitupref]

Would be less "story buds" drug users/dealers around Dublin if they moved the methadone clinics away from the city centre.

[gallsman]

Sure some of them towns up north are like the wild west when the clubs and pubs close. You're taking your life in your hands just walking home and there's not a cop in sight. And that's how I remember it being 20 odd years ago too.

Rubbish. Like any city with a lively nightlife, if you look for trouble while loaded, you can easily find it. As for there "not being a cop in sight", I invite you to stand out side the Bot in Belfast any night of the week at closing time.

As for littering etc. in Dublin, while deplorable, I'd like to think the Gardai have better things to do than stand on street corners acting as a litter deterrent.

[Canalman]

Must be the cutbacks or something but town has in the last 18 months has really deteriorated. Land of the Living Dead at times with that old cemetery park in Jervis Street full of winos and junkies.
Obligatory beggars at the luas ticket machines hassling away to their heart's content.

Still am fond of the place. Has a charm about it lacking in alot of cities. Not a good word ever said about the place which imo is harsh.

[Fear ón Srath Bán]

Must be the cutbacks or something but town has in the last 18 months has really deteriorated. Land of the Living Dead at times with that old cemetery park in Jervis Street full of winos and junkies.

That'd be Wolfe Tone Square Canalman, which used to be the graveyard for St Mary's Church, which is now The Church restaurant.

You're right though, despite all there's more charm and character in a square metre of Dublin than in a square kilometre of others.

[haveaharp]

As for bemoaning the lack of tourist visitors, if they hadnt have robbed shite out of everyone for the last 15 years they might have a few more.

[Canalman]

As for bemoaning the lack of tourist visitors, if they hadnt have robbed shite out of everyone for the last 15 years they might have a few more.

This  tourism thievery wasn't just confined to Dublin you know.

[NAG1]

It applied across the board which is why the place is in the state its in now unfortunately.

Would have no time for any of these folk, drunks and drug users. Dont like the fallen on hard times BS thats always spouted about them, plenty of people are in hard times and arent out injecting heroin and stealing or begging to fund it. IMO should be a zero tolerence policy for these types of offences and should be a choice of drug rehab in a basic enviroment or jail for the cold turkey.

Supposed to be our capital and somewhere we can all be proud of not somewhere we should avoid because of the scum that have take it over.

[boojangles]

It applied across the board which is why the place is in the state its in now unfortunately.

Would have no time for any of these folk, drunks and drug users. Dont like the fallen on hard times BS thats always spouted about them, plenty of people are in hard times and arent out injecting heroin and stealing or begging to fund it. IMO should be a zero tolerence policy for these types of offences and should be a choice of drug rehab in a basic enviroment or jail for the cold turkey.

Supposed to be our capital and somewhere we can all be proud of not somewhere we should avoid because of the scum that have take it over.

I know it can be very hard to implement but there really should be a zero tolerance attitude around the main tourist areas of the city. O Connell St, Dame St, Stephens Green etc and the surrounding areas should be heavily policed with Gardai bascially being a nuisance or a deterrant to any anti-social behaviour.
I have lived in Dublin and have never had a moments trouble in the place but I do agree that the number of Gardai on the beat in the city centre is not near enough. Tourists should feel safe in our capital city. The city Council should also implement an Alcohol-free zone all around the city. I don't think that is the case at the moment.
I agree with the point about the smell of urine or alcohol as you walk up Marlborough Street. This street runs paralell with the busiest thoroughfare in the country. Its a disgrace. That end of O Connell Street running onto Parnell St and Cathal Brugha St etc needs serious attention.
Dublin can be a beautiful and charming city if managed properly.

[haveaharp]

As for bemoaning the lack of tourist visitors, if they hadn't have robbed shite out of everyone for the last 15 years they might have a few more.

This  tourism thievery wasn't just confined to Dublin you know.

Aware of that but it was probably the worst for it. Point is that tourists are unlikely to flock to Dublin until there is somewhat of a realignment of prices.

[Blowitupref]

As for bemoaning the lack of tourist visitors, if they hadnt have robbed shite out of everyone for the last 15 years they might have a few more.

This  tourism thievery wasn't just confined to Dublin you know.

He has a point when you compare Dublin to the other tourist cities in Europe.

[thebigfella]

As for bemoaning the lack of tourist visitors, if they hadnt have robbed shite out of everyone for the last 15 years they might have a few more.

This  tourism thievery wasn't just confined to Dublin you know.

He has a point when you compare Dublin to the other tourist cities in Europe.

Which tourist cities are we talking about now? Eastern European?

Because I've worked all over Europe and I can tell you Dublin is not that bad WHEN COMPARING to some of western Europe's cities.