A Dublin photographer has warned that the city ‘has never been this bad’ after witnessing a group of teenagers commit a brutal assault in the city centre.

On Lunchtime Live this afternoon, Pádraig O’Reilly said he first spotted the group trying to steal a bike when he was in town on Monday evening.

“So, I had an eye on them and then I noticed they crossed Parliament Bridge and then onto the Board Walk on Ormond Quay,” he said.

“They started teasing this guy who was walking along… they started pushing him and then started punching him.

“They were like wild animals hunting him, the way they were following him.

“One of them hit him so hard under the chin, he knocked him to the ground.”

Mr O’Reilly described the group as acting like "absolute savages" despite the fact they were likely only around 15-years-old.

He has worked as a crime photographer since 1987 but feels he has “never, ever seen the streets this bad”.

“We’re talking from the edge of North Strand right across into nearly the South Inner City is really dangerous with gangs and drugs,” he said.

“I was photographing crack addicts this morning, dozens of them queueing up to get their medicines.

“People smoke heroin and weed openly all across the city.”

Garda crime scene investigation unit vehicle. Image: culliganphoto / Alamy

He feels tourists are especially at risk as they do not know the city as well as locals do.

“At the moment, the city is not safe, especially for people visiting when they don’t know the rules that these guys… operate [under],” he said.

“We see this locally; you see this in advance and you move away. You come out of the pub to get into a taxi, you go home.

“You don’t start walking down backstreets at 1am.”

Mr O’Reilly urged the Government to deploy more experienced Gardaí to the area.

“I think the battle has been lost,” he said.

“So, I think they’re going to have to address this and I don’t know if a couple of recruits from Templemore are going to sort this problem out.

“I think we need some more experienced [Gardaí].”

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar said a lot of people have told him they feel less safe in Ireland's cities since the pandemic and promised to "fix that".

"It's a basic entitlement that people should feel safe walking at night in our towns and cities," he said.

"We shouldn't be telling people that 'X area or Y area is dangerous and you shouldn't go there.'

"That's totally the wrong approach, from my point of view."

Main image: Gardaí in Dublin, Ireland