The boardwalk in Dublin City Centre has become a ‘complete no-go area’’ according to independent councillor Mannix Flynn.
It comes after Irish Olympian Jack Woolley was injured in a 'random attack' in the city over the weekend.
The Taekwondo star underwent surgery on his face after he was punched by a man apparently involved in a melee on the boardwalk.
He said he saw a gang of eight to 12 people in their 20s violently attacking people, noting that when he was hit, his attacker said: “My mistake wrong person” before fleeing the scene.
On The Pat Kenny Show this afternoon, Dublin Councillor Mannix Flynn said the city is “out of control.”
“There are huge issues out there and they’re not really being addressed,” he said.
“The result is that people are being intimidated, people are being assaulted and people are full of fear.
“At the end of the day, people say, I am not going into that city. I can’t drive in, so I am not safe in my car because I’m stuck in traffic. I can’t walk in with my family because I’m going to be faced with a myriad of beggars or I am going to be faced with assaults or people drunk.
“So, it is completely - as far as I am concerned and I hate to say this - but it is out of control.”
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He said ordinary Gardaí are “having great difficulty managing the streets.”
“In terms of the boardwalk, the boardwalk isn’t 22 miles long,” he said. “The boardwalk consists of 22 planks in the city centre and it basically is completely no go.
“What happens on that is drugs, intimidation, assaults and now this most recent one a number of nights back.”
He said it is “not good enough” that the council has a €1bn budget but has failed to put an effective policing plan in place for the city.
Policing
He also called for increased investment in An Garda Síochána nationally.
“The Gardaí in our country, particularly in Dublin city, don’t know what to expect when they go to a scene,” he said. “Whether a person is out of their mind on drugs, whether they are high, whether they are carrying a weapon, whether it is a knife crime, whether it is a gun crime.
“We have armed gardaí on our streets, we have killing on our streets we have knife crime on the streets and we have garda management and a minister for justice and a government that seems to be asleep at the wheel here."
Funding
We have to stand up to the mark here and the first step of that mark is that we need Dublin City Council and An Garda Síochána to come up with a new policing plan for the city centre to allow people to come into the city centre and enjoy themselves.
“Also, we need consequences for those who are convicted of crime and brought before the courts.”
He said Government funding should be directed towards, “recruiting Gardaí, putting them on the street, giving them the overtime and putting the public order back into place on the Dublin streets.
“Showing that we are not going to let bowsies or anybody intimidate young, old or anybody on the streets of Dublin city.”
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