Drug/Alcohol atmosphere North quays and Lower Abbey St area

Hi,
I work in the area of the North quays and Lower Abbey St area, and I'm constantly shocked (naive perhaps) by the seediness of the place.

In the past week or two...
I've witnessed people shooting themselves up in the stomach. I've listened to a guy threatening to knife someone for a tenner (another junkie). I've stood beside a girl in a bus queue who was intimidated by three junkies to give her cigarettes to them.

It would seem that very little can be done about this. The Garda seem to ignore the issue.
There's very few foot patrols.

We're abandoning the area around our National Theatre particularly to a group of alcohol/drug dependent people who have nothing to lose and are happy to engage in some pretty degraded
behaviour.

Is anyone else in the know about what can or is being done about this?

Thanks.
Gearoid

I wandered through Middle Abbey Street late at night (c. pub closing time) recently and there were quite a few "revellers" about but there was one Garda car parked outside Mojo's pub keeping an eye on things and at least two other pairs of Gardai on foot patrolling Middle/Upper Abbey Streets which I found a bit reassuring. I work in the general area too and am aware of the junkies etc. but have never had any problems in terms of being accosted/threatened. Maybe Lower Abbey Street is different/worse? The junkies (and their dealings) and drunks on the boardwalk for example also annoy me but on the other hand I have never seen them hassling regular civilians.

I think it gets worse when you cross to the east side of O'Connell St. I know that they generally don't hassle "civilians" except the mildly unpleasant incident I referred to. The stab threat was made down a side-alley. I just happened to be the otherside of a door and overheard it.

The junkies at the Jervis St. Luas stop and around that area are dangerous at times. Even in the middle of the day the situation is quite bad and very rarely see any gardai around. Saw a guy trying to buy a luas ticket the other day and one of the junkies started hassling him for nothing. He had to leave the stop without his ticket and head off to the next stop to avoid a fight.

I think the situation has deteriorated in that general area in the past year. Area I am most wary of is the junction between Talbot Street and North Earl Street. A friend of mine works in that area and some of the incidents he has told of are quite frightening. Junkies fighting and pushing each other through shop windows in one case and regular attempts at petty theft from shops in the general area. The local traders have been meeting regularly with the gardai to increase their presence in the area. All they can do is move them on and this just means they show up somewhere else in the general area. Its very sad to see so many people in a desperate state. And it is a concern that this is an area busy with unsuspecting tourists who can end up being the victims of the crime associated.

The worst thing about it is that you frequently see some of these junkies with young kids in pushchairs. Kids always look dirty and neglected. The junkies have a tendency to ignore traffic signals and can often been seem bolting across a busy Eden Quay on front of oncoming traffic. Some of them seem to think that a pushchair with a child in it is a device for stopping traffic and push the child out on front of oncoming traffic in order to stop it so they can cross the road.

csirl said:

Some of them seem to think that a pushchair with a child in it is a device for stopping traffic and push the child out on front of oncoming traffic in order to stop it so they can cross the road.

Click to expand...

Or maybe they are subconsiously trying to put the child out of its misery, or they may be trying to bask in the reflected pity for the injured child and themselves be suffering from some form of Munchausen's Syndrome by proxy


Murt

gearoid said:

Hi,
I work in the area of the North quays and Lower Abbey St area, and I'm constantly shocked (naive perhaps) by the seediness of the place.

...

Is anyone else in the know about what can or is being done about this?

Thanks.
Gearoid

Click to expand...

I think there is a methadone clinic around the area as there's always a big group of junkies hanging around there.

I disagree with other posters that they don't hassle people. They urinate on the Custom house steps and in the alley running from lower abbey st. the the north quay. The stench in these places is sometihng else. They hang around the quay opposite the custom house constantly drinking from cans and they can be seen dealing methadone and other XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX which I assume is diezipan.

Further down the road there's packs of local scanger kids going around the IFSC doing diving contests from the newly built Millenium bridge into the liffey, again in broad daylight and completely unchallenged and unserpervised.


To answer the OP, what can be done is to enforce the existing laws aimed at fighting unsocial behaviour and to provide not just welfare to these ratbags but some form of mandatory education so they can better themselves and hopefully break the circle of misery they must be stuck in.

I have started to work in the area within the last two weeks and it has really opened my eyes. There is, in fact, a methodone clinic on Amiens Street and there are all types of people hanging around from morning till night while everybody else has to work.

I actually witnessed an incident on the Luas last Friday where one of the junkies stole a guy's mobile phone on the luas (it was left to me as per usual to phone the Guards because no body else would help) Junkie cycled away on a bike before Gardai were called (it was funny) but Luas staff claimed to know him but still let him get away. People like that are threatening and should not be on public transport. Having said that, that was Friday and I saw him on Monday at the Luas Terminus in Abbey Street being taken away by ambulance because somebody had decked him. Gardai had taken his details and I also told them about Friday's incident.

I really think the area is horrible and it is putting me off the job to be honest.

MandaC said:

I have started to work in the area within the last two weeks and it has really opened my eyes. There is, in fact, a methodone clinic on Amiens Street and there are all types of people hanging around from morning till night while everybody else has to work.
.

Click to expand...

I walk past this every day, never been hassled. And if they are blocking the footpath by standing around, they'll move onto the steps and out of your way if you tell them to.

Hope I didn't just jinx myself, I'm sure to get robbed next time.

wavejumper said:

Further down the road there's packs of local scanger kids going around the IFSC doing diving contests from the newly built Millenium bridge into the liffey, again in broad daylight and completely unchallenged and unserpervised.
.

Click to expand...

Why worry about it, it doesn't affect you in any way at all. They do this in George's Dock too, awful stagnant water.
Sure all that happen is they drown themselves and that's not your concern. It's their parents who let them.
Once again, it doesn't affect anyone else

I wonder is the outgoing tide in the Liffey strong?

I disagree that it doesn't affect me. I work near there so it does affect me, it affects the whole area, it makes me want to avoid going anywhere around these areas because it looks and feels like a third world shanty town. This the city centre and the main financial centre, it really gives a terrible impression to turist and visitors. Also now and then there's this blonde Irish woman trying to pick your backpack when on the escalators on Connolly station. I saw her doing this twice on different occasions, just getting really close behind you and trying to sneak a hand in your bag. If you challange her she starts to threaten you and then runs off. Told the security at the station and they shrug and say nothing they can do. The whole 'doesn't really affect you' attitude is why these things go unchallenged and the reaosn why the whole area is considered a kip by many people.

I was only referring to the kids diving and swimming from your post, not anything else.

Thought what I quoted was clear, apologies if it wasn't

micmclo said:

I was only referring to the kids diving and swimming from your post, not anything else.

Thought what I quoted was clear, apologies if it wasn't

Click to expand...

I know what you meant, no offence. It was more like a general rant, it really irks me how the whole north inner city is so bad, the local residents should really make more of an effort to clean their act.

wavejumper said:

I know what you meant, no offence. It was more like a general rant, it really irks me how the whole north inner city is so bad, the local residents should really make more of an effort to clean their act.

Click to expand...

They have no pride in their city. You see that a lot in this country. It's amazing the difference it can make to a place when people have pride in it. Look at some of the tidy town winners here in Ireland, and even some of the smaller towns/villages like Abbeylix. We need to incorporate that pride in our cities too.

Friends of mine who live in Dublin avoid the area you speak of, and say that it's a shame that tourists who arrive by bus are getting that introduction to Dublin. In fairness you often get the same introduction to cities in the US and Europe when you travel by bus or train. Not that that's any excuse.

wavejumper said:

I know what you meant, no offence. It was more like a general rant, it really irks me how the whole north inner city is so bad, the local residents should really make more of an effort to clean their act.

Click to expand...

Wohhhaaa there...I come from the north inner city and my parents still live in the north inner city. You have made a sweeping generalisation there that I strongly object to. Yes there are problems in this area but this doesn't mean that everyone who causes a problem is from the north inner city or that the local residents are the ones who need to clean up their act. The area is a meeting place for unfortunate junkies from all over the city and beyond.... For those who get caught in a cycle of drugs, crime poverty etc its not always as simple as 'cleaning up their act'.

fair enough Lauren, I agree that it's not all down to the local residents 'act'. Still, the areas mentioned by the OP are minging, it reflects poorly on the residents and it gives a bad name to many other areas of north Dublin (where I too live btw). It is the local residents via their elected representative that should lobby for better management of issues like drug addicts rehabilitation, crime and general upkeep of their neighbourhoods.

wavejumper said:

It is the local residents via their elected representative that should lobby for better management of issues like drug addicts rehabilitation, crime and general upkeep of their neighbourhoods.

Click to expand...

Management of issues like crime and drug addiction should not be left to any group of local residents, it should be an issue that all citizens of the country should be interested in, particularly if we wish to see improvements. Unfortunately, you also see a lot of junkies in the Hawkins Street/Pearse Street area and on the quays and roads around the civic offices. From my own perspective it seems to be a growing issue..