A new taskforce is to be set up to tackle street crime in Dublin.

Angela Willis, Assistant Commissioner for the Dublin Metropolitan Region, is proposing the group which is expected to operate across the Dublin area and not just the city centre.

This could include operations targeting low and middle-level drug dealing.

A beefed-up Garda response would also be deployed to tackle the situation along O'Connell Street.

Fianna Fáil Senator Mary Fitzpatrick told The Pat Kenny Show the proposal is for "six dedicated Gardaí" to be on O'Connell Street 24 hours a day.

"To do that you're going to need - for each one Gardaí - you're going to need an equivalent of five if you want that to be 24 hours a day, seven days a week," she said.

A man walks onto O'Connell Street in Dublin city centre in June 2010. Picture by Hemis/Alamy Stock Photo

However, she disagreed with an analogy that people are fearing for their life walking down the street.

"There's an unacceptable level of anti-social behaviour on our city streets, that's indisputable," she said.

"I don't agree with you that you have to walk down O'Connell Street, clinging on to your phone and fearing for your life; the truth is somewhere in between those two scenarios.

"In that part of the inner-city you've got a low-level of homeownership - less than 10% in some parts - but you've got a very high concentration of emergency accommodation, you've got a high-level of transient population.

"You've an enormous footfall - millions of people across O'Connell Street - on a daily, weekly basis and so yes there is a high-level of anti-social behaviour".

'No simple fix'

Senator Fitzpatrick said there are several factors for the state of the street.

"There isn't one simple fix here, the City Council has an enormous role to play in fixing this issue," she said.

"The over-concentration of emergency accommodation in the area, the lack of development and regeneration.

"The opposition's blocking of a half a billion development up on O'Connell Street - none of that helps.

"We all have to play our part with the Gardaí, who need to be resourced to actively police a public space that is different to any other public space in the country."

'Political support'

Richard Guiney, CEO of Dublin Town, said more joined-up thinking is needed.

"We need to organise better and manage better how we run the city,” he said.

"Coordinating supports for people who are vulnerable and ensuring that those supports actually address the issues that people who are vulnerable require.

"I think all of that needs to be brought together, but I do welcome the taskforce.

"I do also welcome the political support that's being provided to address the issue."

Mr Guiney said the city centre was "moving in the wrong direction" even before COVID-related lockdowns.

"I think we are having issues with some young people as well; their behaviour is not acceptable," he said.

"That is something as well we're picking up from our colleagues internationally.

"There seems to be a cohort of teenagers who were impacted quite negatively by the pandemic, and I think their behaviour is quite difficult.

"That's a boarder issue in terms of working with those folks," he added.

Listen back to the full interview below: