„Die Vorstellungen der Menschen über die Sicherheit in der Stadt sind real“ – Ist Dublin unsicher?

Parts of it, yeah.

A large % of the city is quite grim. Is it explicitly unsafe? I would say no, but I *feel* it’s getting worse and it’s definitely getting grimmer.

I think there’s elements of it being unsafe, but elements of the grimness adding a feeling of unease, even if you’re not immediately in danger.

There’s been a lot of comparison with other cities in Europe on here over the last two days. I think one advantage they have is the ‘enclaves’ or ‘ghettos’. Which feels funny to say they’re an advantage, but I do think it means that you can freely walk around safe areas for a long time without encountering anywhere too dodgy.

Whereas in Dublin, I feel like these areas are randomly sprinkled in so you can’t just walk around 90% of the city and feel positive about the atmosphere.

Dublin is definitely getting more and more shitty. It’s lost all it’s charm, there is nothing glamorous about it. 
In 2010 I worked as a van driver for 5 years in the city centre and it was shit when I started ans just kept getting worse.
The trend has continued. I am born and raised in Dublin for 34 years before we moved out, and now I try to avoid the city.

This always made me laugh.

I grew up in the north inner city. I remember going to my granny’s after school as a small child in the 90s, and stepping over unconscious junkies in the stairwell of her flats.

The smell of heroin, piss and hops from the Guinness factory might have been a nice, fuzzy, charming memory for people passing through, but Dublin has never been this picturesque, idyllic place that some people like to think it was.

A fella I grew up with was stabbed to death outside our door because he owed a fairly well known inner city drug dealer a few quid. He was a child.

My eldest cousin was robbed by junkies with syringes when she was about 14.

Drugs absolutely flooded our local community. Cars were stolen and burnt out every other night. Unless we’re going back to the fifties, there wasn’t this “ah you could leave your door open all night” mentality.

Syringes all over the place, blood on the ground, junkies everywhere, robberies left, right and centre. You’d be absolutely battered for showing up to the “wrong” block of flats.

Dublin has a lot of good people and a lot of nice things to do, but let’s not pretend it used to be some crime free haven. It’s always had its fair share of problems.

I feel that random attacks are up, but things like gangland violence is way down. I remember there would be a shooting or stabbing every week in Dublin even before the Hutch-Kinahan war.

I also think that the crack epidemic has had a real impact on how safe town is. Heroin/fentanyl addicts are more predictable than a high crack addict.

Helen says it’s grand.

Yes unsafe multiple instances I’ve personally seen. Been attacked twice and we have had people move to our London office because safer. Ifsc is in bits too and westmoreland is unsafe

Not only is the anti-social behaviour becoming more apparent, the city is just dirtier too. I work in the inner city, and have been ‘blessed’ with a heightened sense of smell at the moment, and the overwhelming smell of piss is staggering, especially around the top of O’Connell Street. Bin bags are torn into by seagulls and the rubbish is just thrown about and left there. Dog shit (at least I hope it’s dogs, but then there may be some enormous dogs out there) is damn near unavoidable on the streets I commute along, and there is a general griminess to the city centre. Many of our main streets have a lot of disused and derelict buildings, which is not a great look.

Open drug use, people screaming down the street at each other and quite aggressive begging (I don’t really want to call it begging, but I did witness a man screaming ‘give me change’ at passers-by yesterday) all serve to damage our perception. My mum and dad are not frequent travellers, but they went to Copenhagen this year and they were stunned at the general cleanliness, efficiency and how safe they felt (my dad is definitely a product of his time and commented how he only saw 1 beggar and they weren’t even asking for money, just sitting there, which was all he would say when you asked him what he thought of Denmark).

Having visited a few European capitals, each has their ‘no-go’ areas. The problem with Dublin is that some of our dodgiest areas are incredibly popular tourist spots too, or at least access points to them (Talbot street coming to mind as the quickest way from Connolly to O’Connell Street).

Personally, I think Dublin is less safe now than it was 10 or 20 years ago. The advent of e-scooters has been a game changer for gangs,

I also think that the stats will back me up when I say that crime is on the rise. Whether that rise is proportional to our increased population I do not know, but it’s not going down any time soon.

And – I know I’ll be downvoted for saying this – a large number of the gangs and drug dealers I see are non-nationals.

Temple Bar on a Friday night, in and around what used to be the Button Factory is very grim and quite scary. People openly taking crack in the streets, without a care about who might be watching – OAP’s, Children or even the Gardai.

A trip up the quays on a Monday morning is an eye opener. Drugs openly being sold on Aston Quay westwards – especially Merchant’s Quay – for all to see.

I was standing on Eden Quay on a busy Thursday evening when one lad was walking up to people asking ‘Are ya selling any craic?”. Eventually one lad who was waiting on the 15 or 27 said “Yeah, how much do you need?”. An open air deal ensued.

Talbot Street doesn’t even need to be described in detail, we all know what it’s like. Tablet Street.

While these people in reality may pose no threat to anyone else, it doesn’t feel that way. They are constantly arguing and fighting amongst themselves and it wouldn’t take much for a stray dig or kick to hit an innocent passer-by.

There are definitely more Guards on the street, but unfortunately they are outnumbered by the increased number of gangs, beggars, pickpockets, drug dealers, thieves and lads who will throw digs for no reason.

I really have to be on top of things while walking through town, particularly late at night when I might have a few drinks on me.

The most dangerous thing about Dublin is having your wallet emptied after buying a round in the Temple Bar.

The most visible nuisances live in prime real estate in the city centre. They’re just doing their regular bullshit. It’s like if London City decided to put a block of corpo flats and a methadone clinic in Trafalgar Square. 

It should be glassed from orbit

Dublin has always had an edge to it, but that doesn’t mean it’s unsafe. I think people that complain about Dublin haven’t lived in many places and don’t understand what an unsafe city actually is. 

I’ve never had any actual dangerous encounters in Dublin but there’s a general nasty vibe around. People shouting, a lot of drug addicts, general dirtiness. I’ve never really felt in danger but I hate the fact that I can’t stop and stand for 30 seconds without being harassed by beggars and homeless people.