Soccer tournaments proposed to defuse tensions in Dublin’s north inner city

Soccer tournaments between food delivery workers and local youths are one of the proposals being considered by community leaders seeking to defuse tensions in Dublin’s north inner city.

Several meetings involving senior gardaí, politicians, Government officials and community activists have taken place in recent weeks in response to growing concerns about violent youth crime and drug-related intimidation in the area.

There has been a marked increase in knife-related crime in the area in recent months, including a fatal stabbing and a number of attacks and robberies targeting food delivery workers.

The most recent meeting took place on Monday and involved senior gardaí, Department of Justice officials, Dublin City Council officials and inner-city councillors. The meeting involved each side "setting out their stall and the extent of the problem from their point of view", an attendee said.

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The meeting was told a handful of families were responsible for an outsized proportion of the violent crime in the northeast inner-city area. This violence is causing young people, who ordinarily would not involve themselves in crime, to start carrying knives “for protection”, the meeting heard.

“It’s a self-perpetuating problem,” one of the attendees said of the situation afterwards.

Increased surveillance

Proposals were put forward at the meeting to target the core groups of criminals with increased Garda intervention and surveillance, including increased stop and searches.

“These have to be highly targeted. That’s vital or you risk further damaging relations between the guards and the community,” an attendee said.

Significant additional Garda resources are needed in this regard, the meeting heard, akin to the resources employed at the height of the Hutch-Kinahan gangland feud.

Officials were also told about the tensions between food-delivery workers with companies such as Deliveroo and local youths in the area. This follows several violent incidents targeting the workers in recent months.

Much of the problem relates to the cessation of sport and youth club activities in the area due to Covid-19, the meeting heard. This is causing young people to gather outdoors in large groups which often follow the lead of the most violent members.

One of the suggestions to reduce attacks on delivery staff was the establishment of five-a-side soccer leagues for young people and the food delivery workers.

Reaching out

Community leaders are seeking to reach out to food delivery workers to discuss the violence, but have struggled to find someone who can speak for the workers as a group.

Deliveroo and similar companies categorise their delivery workers as “self-employed”. However, it is understood staff from the Unite trade union have volunteered to help workers organise representation on an informal basis.

Gardaí have already stepped up patrols in the north inner city in the wake of the recent violence, while Deliveroo workers have staged a number of unofficial strikes over what they feel is a lack of urgency by the company and the Garda in addressing safety issues.

Last week, senior Garda management in Dublin met representatives from the company. The Garda said that “a number of overt and covert operations” were ongoing in the Dublin city area involving detectives, the drug unit and the public order unit, “to target antisocial behaviour and crimes against the person”.

In addition, the Garda has put in place liaison officers for food delivery workers in each Garda division in Dublin city. Workers are being encouraged to contact these liaison workers with any safety concerns.