Dublin stabbings: What does the data say about knife crime on the streets of the capital?

Is Dublin becoming more, or less, dangerous?

Listen | 22:15
Gardaí stand on duty outside the General Post Office (GPO) on O'Connell street the day after the November 2023 Dublin riots. Photograph: Paul Faith/AFP via Getty Images
Gardaí stand on duty outside the General Post Office (GPO) on O'Connell street the day after the November 2023 Dublin riots. Photograph: Paul Faith/AFP via Getty Images

Last weekend, over the course of 24 hours, two men were stabbed and seriously injured in separate incidents in Dublin’s city centre.

An English tourist was hospitalised on Saturday night after he was stabbed in Temple Bar and on Sunday, a 17-year-old teenager was left in a critical condition after he was repeatedly stabbed on Dublin’s Eden Quay.

These latest attacks will undoubtedly reinforce the perception that the streets of the Irish capital are becoming unsafe. They also come in the wake of a surge in attacks against immigrants, particularly the Indian community.

Minister for Justice Jim O’Callaghan recently pushed back against any suggestions that Dublin was unsafe, arguing that the capital city is actually becoming safer. In contrast, Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald said earlier this year that people living, working and visiting the city “have been robbed of their sense of safety”.

In today’s In The News episode, Irish Times crime and security editor Conor Lally discusses the latest crime figures in the capital and explores how recent assaults are impacting people’s perception of personal safety.

Presented by Sorcha Pollak. Produced by Suzanne Brennan and Declan Conlon.

Sorcha Pollak

Sorcha Pollak

Sorcha Pollak is an Irish Times reporter specialising in immigration issues and cohost of the In the News podcast

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