Senior Garda promises to ‘win back’ feeling of safety after meeting Dublin business owners

A meeting between senior gardaí and about 200 Dublin business owners has concluded, with the capital’s most senior officer promising to “to win back that feeling of safety in our city”.

The meeting, which lasted about an hour, took place in the Gaiety Theatre in the wake of a series of assaults and other violent incidents in the city centre in recent weeks. This has prompted the Government to provide €10 million in extra funding for a policing surge in the city centre, including the deployment of extra armed officers, riot police and dog units.

An Garda Síochána has said this will result in 48,500 extra policing hours a month for the rest of the year, including a significant increase in the presence of public order units in the city centre.

Plans for a greater Garda presence on Dublin’s streets does not mean there will be armed gardaí “standing on the corner of our streets,” Minister for Justice Helen McEntee said earlier. “That’s not what we’re talking about here. The armed support team has always supported Operation City Centre.”

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[ Dublin plan ‘does not mean armed gardaí on street corners’, says McEntee ]

Following the meeting with business leaders, Assistant Commissioner for the Dublin region Angela Willis said the Garda acknowledges the ongoing concerns and “recognise that high visibility is what will make people feel safe in this city.”

She said there have been some “very unpleasant incidents” in the city recently and that it is a complex issue which cannot be dealt with by gardaí alone.

Ms Willis said gardaí will continue to work “to win back that feeling of safety in our city for all of our citizens, our workers and people who visit the city.”

Dublin Town, which represents business owners, described the meeting as constructive.

Richard Guiney, CEO of Dublin Town, said the city’s business community “support the deployment of additional Garda resources to the city and, in particular, proposals to increase visible policing on city streets”.

“We believe that this increased visibility will act as a deterrent to anti-social and criminal behaviour,” he said.

Stephen Browne, head of public affairs at Dublin Chamber, said the city has experienced “a heightened sense of menace” in recent years and that the issue of safety has reached “crisis levels.” He welcomed the announcement of additional garda resources, calling it a crucial interim measure.

Gardaí are particularly concerned about the potential for violence against tourists visiting the city this weekend for the American Football game at the Aviva Stadium between Navy and Notre Dame.

Senior Garda officers told The Irish Times if any American visitors were robbed or assaulted, even during the course of a relatively minor incident, it had the potential to put the Garda and Government under pressure. Mr Browne said people attending the match must be kept safe.

While high profile violent attacks on the streets of Dublin have resulted in significant public debate for months crime data shows attacks have not increased, indeed they have fallen marginally.

Figures obtained by The Irish Times from Garda Headquarters, Phoenix Park, Dublin, show there have been 2,353 assaults in public places in Dublin to date this year. This compares with 2,429 in the same period last year and 2,535 in 2019, the most recent comparable period before pandemic.