Anti social behaviour in Castlecurragh (D15)

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gazzer

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I was wondering if anybody had any advice for me concerning the estate i am living in (Castlecurragh D15?).

I moved in to my house 4 years ago which i got under the afordable housing scheme from Fingal county council.. It was a godsend for me and i was delighted to get it.. 2 years ago i bought the council's share of the house so in 23 years time the house will be mine :).

The problem is the part of the estate where i live has gotten really bad in the last number of months. Beside Castlecurragh there is a council estate called Dromheath and the majority of the problems are coming from the kids from there.. At first i ignored it cos none of the neighbours were giving out to them and i didnt want to be the only one.. However in the last couple of months i have had enought and Ive gone out a few times to them to ask them to stop but i just get abuse of them and for the last 4 nights there have been eggs/stones been thrown at the sitting room window.. last night 2 fireworks were let off under the sitting room window.

About a month ago two robbed cars knocked down 3 of the railings that bother the esate i am in with the other estate.. I rang Fingal last week cos they have replaced the railings with boulders.. I asked them when the railings would be fixed and they said around 2 months.. FFS 2 months.. its rediculous.. the lack of railings is making it easier for these scumbags to get away quicker when they are annoying the residents.

I rang up the anti social behaviour section of the council and they said i would have to get names of the people involved.. How the hell am i meant to do that.. Also i have video footage of the kids throwing things at the houses (and writing on some of the house windows in marker) but apparantly that is not good enough if they cant get names of the kids.. I rang the police on Thursday and last night about the kids but they never arrived.. or if they did i didnt see them around..

Surely the council have a duty of care to the residents in the esate.. When i moved in first there were huge railings up and there was no access into our estate from the other one.. after about a year those railings came down and smaller ones (with a walkway) were put in their place.

There are apartments opposite me that have loads of graffiti on them for the last 2 months.. the council still havnt done anything about that either.
I dont know what to do at this stage.. im paying a hefty mortgage but to be honest i would rather move somewhere else and pay more (stamp duty etc) cos it looks like Fingal and the guards arnt doing anything and i am really afraid i am going to get one of the kids one day and batter him. The next door neighbours are already selling up..

I would hate to be driven out of my home but i dont know what to do at this stage. Then again if i try to sell the house i probably wont get any buyers if word of the anti social behaviour gets out... any advice would be appreciated.
 
gazzer said:
and i am really afraid i am going to get one of the kids one day and batter him. The next door neighbours are already selling up..

I would hate to be driven out of my home but i dont know what to do at this stage. Then again if i try to sell the house i probably wont get any buyers if word of the anti social behaviour gets out... any advice would be appreciated.
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I know the area fairly well. Please don't do that- not only is it illegal but you'll will probably find his whole extended family on your doorstep within 30 seconds- yep the ones that are nowhere to be seen when he's destroying your property and making your life a misery. Keep calling the council and attend the community policing meetings (council will have details of these). Get the gards to take statements each time damage is done. find out the name of the Fingal community development officer for your area and lobby him/her. I know these measures sound pathetic but the more your respond to the kids by shouting and chasing the more they will target you as they are getting the "buzz" of a response. Also lobby your local councillor directly about the railings- much more likely to get them fixed quicker with a councillor breathing down their neck!
 
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OP instead of ringing the gardai, call down to your local garda station, and ask to speak with the local community officer, if not the desk sergent.

Also bring any evidence of anti social behaviour down to them to review, find out who the desk sergent is. Tell him/her (politely) you'll call in next week to see what can be done and thank him/her for his/her time. Manners goes a long way.

It will be much harder for the gardai to ignore you if you go down to station and make official requests rather than phone which can be ignored easily.
 
I agree with the measured, methodical, consistent approach. Getting to know your Community Guard and Seargant (spell?) is key. Also keep a written record - dates, nos of kids involved, descriptions (you'll get to know them after a while...), photos if possible. It's hell, I've been there. One of the Fingal Councillors lives in the estate? Lobby all the councillors in the region (Fingal website has addresses and phone numbers and email). Also minutes of council meetings and councillors questions are available on that site. Get your neighbours to lobby (hound...) them as well. NB Losing your cool will get you nowhere. Best of luck over Hallowe'en. It's the worst time of year. best of luck.
 
I say "GOOD LUCK" police dont care, know from living around there, thugs dont care about police.. and if you do something about it yourself they make your life hell, Its No win Deal, get out if you can....Sell up
 
Gazzer - soory to hear about your plight, it must be awful. I fully understand the emotion behind the proposed battering but as the posters have said it would be futile at best and dangerous to you or your family at worst.

Have you got a residents association you can escalate this through? Ideally if you have, get them to contact the liason officer with the local garda station and ask what they are doing. They should also be able to pressurise DCC to get those railings fixed. They should also get their act together and be hounding the local politicians to get something done quickly (especially with the election coming down).

Obviously you could do all the above on your own but I can assure you that if the RA go along representing 100-200 houses, that's a lot of votes in a tight constituency and you will get attention.

It's a sad state of affairs but there's no way I'd let those little f**kers run you out of your home.

Best of luck
Roy
 
Gazzer, its just not worth the hassle. While I agree with the posts not to let them run you out of your home, there will come a time when you are pushed too far and you will find yourself in trouble over some little skanger. If the area is going downhill that much, I would try and take my chances and get out now, before it becomes impossible to do so.
 
Thanks everybody for your replies.. I really appreciated them.. There is a residents association in the estate so i am going to get in touch with them and see what they can do.. Also going to email the councillors etc (got the email addresses from the Fingal website) and get in touch with a few neighbours and see what they have to say.

Im still in half a mind to sell up but I am going to see firstly what happens with lobbying Fingal and the councillors and also see how the next door neighbour gets on with selling his house..some scumbag wrote loads of graffiti on the side wall of his house on Monday and of course nobody saw who did it so the neighbour spent all day yesterday trying to remove it

Its a pity that this is happening in the area cos for the most part the estate is fine.. it just happens that i am in the part where all the bad stuff is happening...

Thanks again
 
Hiya i have been living in Castlecurragh heath (renting) for four months in this short space of time i have had my car broken twice (on one occasion the steering wheel ripped out and gear stick wreaked! all for 5 euros i accidentally left in it). My house mate has also has her car damaged. i have heard people trying to get into my back garden. I am currently talking (arguing) with my estate agents who i rent the house from as i was told catle curragh heath was a lovely estate, with minium crime ever happening. Now i am trying to get out of the house as i do not feel safe as i am a young 20 year old girl! i will not be able to leave the house as my estate agents are telling me that i can not get my desposit back and i can not afford to leave the house if i do not get this back.
I feel as if i have been lied to and this great area and brilliant house they have rented me is a living nightmare! Any ideas on what i can do? they would be appriciated!
 
What about contacting the Private Residencial Tenancies Board. See what their advice is. Safety must be a priority.
 
Gazzer,

Sorry to hear about your problems. Yes, some parts of Castlecurragh are troublesome. I think you need to speak to a few of your neighbours and ask them for help as some of them may be at home and see some of the accused whilst you are at work/away from your home.

By clubbing together you may be a better force to be reckoned with than just 1 person standing alone if you follow my drift.

The problem is that the estate can be rather antisocial to the extent that people could be living next to eachother and hardly ever say hello or ask even the time of day so it's hard to get these things going.

Ruth Coppinger should be contacted as should Helen Redwood (chair fo the committee).

Good luck and please let us know how things progress.

:)
 
Get out before it starts affecting your health aswell. Life is too short!
When all the good people have left they'll start turning on each other - scmbags! Then they''ll really realise the cosequences of their actions!!
 
I had the same issue recently the PRTB website has a published register this should get you past the first hurdle of whether teh landlord is registered. After that if you send in a fax or email they will send you out a letter with the landlords contact details
http://www.prtb.ie/pubregister.htm
it is hit and miss with the prtb sometimes it depends on how you get on the other end of the phone. They will not give phone numbers etc. only address of landlord.
 
Hi,

Just found this website and find it so interesting. I was actually looking for help myself concerning anti-social behaviour in littlepace/castaheaney estate. Have lived here for 7 years and just last Halloween a group of yobs destroyed the main Pace Road with grafitti and it seems like they came back a second year to repeat the act. It's soul destroying. Working hard to maintain our nice homes only for some group of youngsters to complete degrade and disgrace it. I am also considering moving but God knows where to and where one can afford. It's awful as have lovely neighbours, my son loves his school and friends but it's really getting me down. I can fully understand where your coming from but there doesn't seem to be any method of dealing with these people. They simply don't care who'se lives they destroy and who has the foot the bill for their clean up!!! Are they answerable do anybody???
 
Hi Livia,

Have you any meaningful contact with local Gardai? I mean on a regular, sustained basis either through a residents group or through local policing forum?

D8L
 
livia said:
Hi,

They simply don't care who'se lives they destroy and who has the foot the bill for their clean up!!! Are they answerable do anybody???
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I saw in a local Blanch paper that it will cost Fingal CoCo 250,000 Euro to clear up the mess from bonfires this Halloween and that over 120,000 of this figure will be spent in the Blanchardstown area alone.

The parks department will have so much extra work to do to try and repair ruined green areas.
 
hi there
we had an issue with anti-social behaviour where I lived...albeit on a much smaller scale.. But - I got on to all the local TDs - and said I was speaking on behalf of most of the residents in the area (which I was though informally) - well I never saw such action in my life. Community Garda called down to my house, we were given numbers to ring if it happened again and they basically sorted it all out quick smart. Have to say I was suprised but think we do have some very active TDs/ councillors in the area and they were on it pretty quick.. In the end it was the local FF TD who sorted it out (Seemed to have quite a bit of pull in local Garda station) which is kind of ironic as would never vote FF in a fit..
Anyway, just want to suggest going down that route & talking to local residents associations etc if you have one... remember there is an election on the way!! It is a bit of hassle but nowhere near as bad as having to move... Anyway if no-one does anything it will just get worse...
 
Just wanted to pop back in and sat that things havnt been too bad the last few weeks.

Caught a few kids about to throw fireworks in the back garden the other afternoon (thankfully the dog was inside). Had a stone thrown at the window yesterday morning... Apart from that is been ok.. tonight will be the big test i am sure.

Some people who kindly posted replies to me original post mentioned getting in touch with the residents association or local councilers.. Its a good idea but unfortunately the majority of the time at the residents association meetings seems to be taken up with the whole management fees problem in the estate.. Maybe when that issue is sorted out they will be able to give more time to the anti social behaviour problem
 
Gazzer,

Sorry to hear about all this hassle. I know it's easy for other people to say but I honestly think you'd be better off out of it. (It's disgusting to think of these scumbags running you out of your home but unless you lower yourself to their level, they could make your life hell.) Once an estate is overrun with thugs like these you'll find that a lot of the decent people will be left with no choice but to move on. I honestly believe that once a place gets that bad the only way you'll live there happily is if you are that type of person yourself. I lived in an estate years ago that started off lovely. Beautiful houses, great people. But then the thugs from the neighbouring areas came in and robbed cars, burgled houses, basically caused any damage they could. One by one the original people left. Once you're out of it you'll never look back.
 
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