Thieving scum targetting Balbriggan?

blastman

Last Friday I arrived back from my uncle's funeral in England to find the passenger window of my car smashed and the stereo stolen. Apparently three or four other cars in the area (two others on my road for sure that I know of, at least) were done the same night (last Thursday at about 4am). Was anyone else here one of the unlucky ones? This is the second time this has happened around the area. a guy across the road was done a couple of months ago. Is there a gang operating around the north county area?

Oh, and a big hand for the guards, who were called by an elderly neighbour who knew there was no-one in my house at the time. Did they arrive on the scene efficiently and take a statement with a minimum of fuss? Did they balls!! Fcukers never showed up AT ALL....

The Hill Billy

blastman - Were the malfeasants still there when the old dear called the Gardai? If so, get on to Balbriggan Garda Station (01 8030510) & read them the riot act for not coming to the scene while a crime was taking place.

I'd also advise getting on to your local TDs (& prospective TDs for the upcoming general election) & tell them how p!ssed off you are with staffing levels in Balbriggan. TBH - The Gardai are run off their flat feet in North Fingal (which comes under the Louth/Meath Division). The local population & crime has boomed in recent years, but there's been no more Gardai put on the beat.

catch--22

Yeah, we should make this a big issue for our local TD's in the coming months! The staffing in Rush is brutal! Most times you press the buzzer on the door you end up talking to Balbriggan station since there is nobody in Rush. They are highly under staffed for the big job they have to do in the area with rising problems with population!

dubmick

where do you live Blastman?

Wishbone Ash

catch--22 wrote:

The staffing in Rush is brutal!

Yes, there were more Gardai assigned to Rush in the 1950s. It's even worse in Donabate where there is no Garda Station. It comes under the Romeo Bravo (Swords) district.

Bluetonic

Personally I would say it's people from the town, can't see people from outside the town coming down to rob a few car stereos which would shift for a few quid. Too much hassle for not enough return.

Considering I'm guessing you live on one end of the town (and I'm hoping you don't go down the route of naming the exact area) I'd imagine it's wandering souls from the other end.

If I'm guessing correclty theres a lot of cars on the street in question and it's quite strange that only three were touched, mind you all the cars in question wouldn't have an intergrated car stereo so I'm guessing they were easier targets.

blastman

Bluetonic, I'd tend to agree. I know mine wasn't integrated and one of the others wasn't as I heard he'd just got it for Christmas. I strongly suspect the other side of town given the alleged activities that go on there that I've already heard about. If they were any sort of professional they could have opened the door in a couple of seconds without leaving a mark. I can do it myself!

Hill Billy, no they were long gone at that stage, the guy lives up the other end of my road and wouldn't have heard it. I presume he rang the following morning.

dubmick, the clue is in the the thread title!

dubmick

I meant where in Balbriggan.

catch--22

Wishbone Ash wrote:

Yes, there were more Gardai assigned to Rush in the 1950s. It's even worse in Donabate where there is no Garda Station. It comes under the Romeo Bravo (Swords) district.

Can you imagine being in a situation in somewhere like Donabate, needed a Garda response ASAP and finding out they had to come all the way from Swords (where they are prob already run off their feat!?

My own experience of the Gardai in Rush has always been good...seem like a plesant bunch but can't help but feel they are trying to do a loveless job with one hand tied behind their back!

The Hill Billy

The cops in Rush have never had it easy.

I remember poor Garda Henry (don't know if he's still there) who used to drive the light blue Renault 4 cop car.
Anyway, back in the 80's some ne'er-do-wells robbed the Post Office in Rush.
The story goes that Henry took off after them through the Blackhills in his little Renault 4 only to run out of petrol.
The baddies copped this, ran back & took poor Henry's wallet before making their escape.

Bluetonic

Lester would take no prisoners over in Rush, that's for sure.

Wishbone Ash

Bluetonic wrote:

Lester would take no prisoners over in Rush, that's for sure.

LOL I haven't seen him in a while. Is he still there?

blastman

He used to live up the road from me.

dubmick, don't want to say exactly, lets just say it's not the "new" end of town.

catch--22

Hill Billy wrote:

The cops in Rush have never had it easy.

I remember poor Garda Henry (don't know if he's still there) who used to drive the light blue Renault 4 cop car.
Anyway, back in the 80's some ne'er-do-wells robbed the Post Office in Rush.
The story goes that Henry took off after them through the Blackhills in his little Renault 4 only to run out of petrol.
The baddies copped this, ran back & took poor Henry's wallet before making their escape.

That's very irish really! Made me smile! He's retired now but still living in the town! I rememebr that Renault very well....great little motor!

Chinafoot

blastman wrote:

He used to live up the road from me.

Same here...

Don't tell me there's three of us here living on the same road?

catch--22

Chinafoot wrote:

Same here...

Don't tell me there's three of us here living on the same road?

ha ha! interesting! And which road would that be? Anywhere near the old Golf rd by any chance?

Chinafoot

heh, i'll not be naming areas.

catch--22

yeah, sorry....better off!

wow sierra

As someone who lives in the "new end of the town" I wish people would refrain from insulting the whole area. I am a blowin but I thought ye Balbriggan people were nice:( Ye wouldn't have your cinema, new restaurants etc if if wasn't for us blowins - we are not all bad you know;)

PS I've had my car stolen once and broken into 4 times (In Inchicore, Dublin City Centre, Drumcondra (twice) and Castleknock) Never yet in Balbriggan.

seanos

All right, but apart from the sanitation, the medicine, education, wine, public order, irrigation, roads, a fresh water system, and public health, what have the blowins ever done for us?


*cough* a blowin not even here four months myself.

Chinafoot

wow sierra wrote:

As someone who lives in the "new end of the town" I wish people would refrain from insulting the whole area. I am a blowin but I thought ye Balbriggan people were nice:( Ye wouldn't have your cinema, new restaurants etc if if wasn't for us blowins - we are not all bad you know;)

Have to say, you need to understand that Balbriggan, while not exactly a small town, was never a big town and it was very "local". If you were born here chances are you know most of the people that lived here.

The boom in population came very suddenly and loads of housing estates were put up very quickly. I was born and reared here and where I work I have people coming in telling me they live in estates I've never heard of. There's an estate in the town called SALMON......wtf!!!

We have no problem with "blow ins" and anyone that calls you a blow in more than likely means in that jokey irish way, and not as an insult. The fact that you mention the new cinema and restaurants, however, may hit a nerve with some locals, as the town needs far more important things than a cinema. Look at the schools situation for an example!

If we refer to where you live as legoland, it's no reflexion on the people that live there, but rather the money hungry developers that were after a quick buck with no regard for the problems that would arise from so many people with so few facilities.

Personally I welcome you to the town and I hope you enjoy living here and ge to know lots of people. We're a friendly bunch, believe it ro not, and if you give us a chance you'll see that.

Bluetonic

wow sierra wrote:

As someone who lives in the "new end of the town" I wish people would refrain from insulting the whole area. I am a blowin but I thought ye Balbriggan people were nice:( Ye wouldn't have your cinema, new restaurants etc if if wasn't for us blowins - we are not all bad you know;)

The mind boggles at how you come to that conclusion.

This topic has come up already. Bad developments, lack of recreational and social amenities, and lack of integration will always attract criticisms. Try not to take it personally, if you think all is wonderful well then you must have your head in the sand.

ps I would say Balbriggan people are fair, not necessarily nice.

100gSoma

seanos wrote:

All right, but apart from the sanitation, the medicine, education, wine, public order, irrigation, roads, a fresh water system, and public health, what have the blowins ever done for us?


*cough* a blowin not even here four months myself.

LOL....

The developers should be held to account. Or the council. As I understand it the council is responsible for providing guidelines (orders) to the builders on what type of dwellings to build.

I was looking at the planning map for joe wades new houses. up behind wavin... you drive down the new road off the church roundabout and then turn right up behind wavin to get to them...

phase 1. about 50 new houses. 3 bed terraced. 3 bed semi. and 4 bed semi. and 3 bed detached bungalows. not bad size houses, BUT.... no driveway. LOL Can you understand this? a 425k 4 bed semi detached house with shared parking bays outside the front door? WTF?
this is seriously annoying me. I gues sIm missing something but can someone explain to me why it is better to have 8 shared parking bays right in front of a house instead of a driveway in front of each door. I know for a fact its not a money issue, its a "planning" issue. I just don't understand it. You end up with someone with a white transit parked who take sup 1.5 spaces etc, an deach house has 2 cars on average so you can see the issues... why do they do this? I await someones enlightenment.

catch--22

No driveways = more space = more houses = more money!

100gSoma

catch--22 wrote:

No driveways = more space = more houses = more money!

if you look at the plans you can see that it would not use more space actually. you could fit the same houses in the same footprint with a driveway instead of a 6foot path in front of your porch, then a shared parking bay. They could easily have a small driveway. I'd like to think it was all issues of saving space, but I dunno. I think its disgusting though. charging 400,000euro for a house without even somewhere to park your car that is exclusively yours. I guess the majority are not bothered either way as the houses will see no bother. I reckon if they got rid of the gardens, the driveway, and added a 1st floor 1 bed apartment underneath your house, people would still be happy to buy them. oh wait, they have done that. sweet.

Fingleberries

I'll let you in on a secret ... The whole building thing is a sham (not necessarily Joe Wade, you understand). Designed to screw as much money out of people for as little work / effort as possible.

This can be seen by the 'townhouse' phenomenon. Where on the site of an average 3-bed house a developer can squeeze a two or three bedroom house upstairs and a small flat downstairs (one or two bed)

When it comes to cost to build, it's not a lot more to build than an average house ... but. They get to charge €270k for the miniscule downstairs place and €300k+ for the upstairs one.

Hmm. So they can get away with earning €600k+ (on average) for what definitely cost less than €100k to build, instead of earning €300k for a nice home on the same site.

It's a case of greed, and the economy and dire planning system that lets them away with it. (who said brown envelopes?)

Look at the new houses being built by the graveyard for instance. They look butt-ugly. Given the volume of houses and allowing for 1.3 cars per houshold and the entrance / exits are almost directly on to the traffic lights and are going to cause traffic problems


If you ask me, I think Westbrook were probably the last decent houses built in the town.
_________________________________________________________
Edited to correct typos

100gSoma

great points there fingleberries... I agree with all of that. its a damn shame though. sad but true.

MAYPOP

Fingleberries wrote:

This can be seen by the 'townhouse' phenomenon. Where on the site of an average 3-bed house a developer can squeeze a two or three bedroom house upstairs and a small flat downstairs (one or two bed)

I agree, plus the idea of building apartments in housing estates pisses me off too. Why on earth is it deemed necessary to build apartment blocks in an area surrounded by miles and miles of fields??? They aren't exactly cheap either!

The Hill Billy

MAYPOP wrote:

Why on earth is it deemed necessary to build apartment blocks in an area surrounded by miles and miles of fields???

An excellent point. Apartment living is more suited to a strictly urban setting with all of the usual amenities (like a fcuking shop for instance) in the immediate locality. Look at any other european country - Do they throw up apartment blocks on the edge of small towns? No. Why not? Because they know that it leads to chronic social issues due to isolation/lack of facilities.

FFS - For any poor fecker living in Kelly's Bay in Skerries for example - the nearest decent shop is at least a 20 minute walk away. 40 minutes if you've got kids. And now they're panning on putting in another few hundred apartments in Barnageera? They'd nearly be better off walking to Dave's Mini Mart in Balrothery!

Planners? Spanners!

Bluetonic

Hill Billy wrote:

They'd nearly be better off walking to Dave's Mini Mart in Balrothery!

They'd be quicker heading over 'The Springers' and down into the shop in Pinewood!

sgarvan

100gSoma wrote:

if you look at the plans you can see that it would not use more space actually. you could fit the same houses in the same footprint with a driveway instead of a 6foot path in front of your porch, then a shared parking bay. They could easily have a small driveway. I'd like to think it was all issues of saving space, but I dunno. I think its disgusting though. charging 400,000euro for a house without even somewhere to park your car that is exclusively yours.

it may not save space, but it gives an impression that there is more room in a housing estate as there is no walls separating the gardens. i.e the open plan effect.

100gSoma wrote:

I guess the majority are not bothered either way as the houses will see no bother. I reckon if they got rid of the gardens, the driveway, and added a 1st floor 1 bed apartment underneath your house, people would still be happy to buy them. oh wait, they have done that. sweet.

This really is the main issue, Irish peoples lack of complaining. People are buying the houses so the builders will keep building. Also alot of daily commuting people dont want gardens. That just leads to more work for them at home

Fingleberries wrote:

Look at the new houses being built by the graveyard for instance. They look butt-ugly. Given the volume of houses and allowing for 1.3 cars per houshold and the entrance / exits are almost directly on to the traffic lights and are going to cause traffic problems

If you ask me, I think Westbrook were probably the last decent houses built in the down.

Gotta agree 100% with this. The houses are a disgrace at the graveyard. They should of been told to keep the design of them as close to the Westbrook/Chapel Gate design. But no the planners just agree to let them build what they want

MAYPOP

Hill Billy wrote:

FFS - For any poor fecker living in Kelly's Bay in Skerries for example - the nearest decent shop is at least a 20 minute walk away. 40 minutes if you've got kids. And now they're panning on putting in another few hundred apartments in Barnageera? They'd nearly be better off walking to Dave's Mini Mart in Balrothery!

And how many will actually walk?! Very few I bet!

The Hill Billy

MAYPOP wrote:

And how many will actually walk?! Very few I bet!

What's your point? Even if you are right & they drive - it will then mean that there is increased traffic in the town center. Another example of bad planning.

MAYPOP

Hill Billy wrote:

What's your point? Even if you are right & they drive - it will then mean that there is increased traffic in the town center. Another example of bad planning.

That was my point!

blastman

Way to derail a thread, lads!

I agree entirely about the apartments at the graveyard, though. My dad is buried right at the corner where the traffic lights are, so there's no sense of peace as it is. With f*ck knows how many sets of eyes overlooking the place soon, there's going to be even less. What makes me laugh (not really, but you know what I mean) is that any local politicians that have done the election pre-emptive strike talk to you like it was someone else's decision! It's never anyone you can actually talk to that makes the decision

blastman

Oh, and a mate parked his new Merc (new for him, but it's actually a 93 car) in Quay St for a couple of hours last night and someone snapped the Merc badge off it. You really start to wonder why people can't leave things alone.

Fingleberries

blastman wrote:

Oh, and a mate parked his new Merc (new for him, but it's actually a 93 car) in Quay St for a couple of hours last night and someone snapped the Merc badge off it. You really start to wonder why people can't leave things alone.

You really have to wonder at the mentality, don't you?
"If somebody left it here, I'm entitled to take it or break it"
or
"If you have something, I'm entitled to it ... "

It'd make you sick!

Although it's not limited to Balbriggan, it's in large sectors of society as a whole.

Morpheus

Dont associate the cinema or other amenities etc with blow-ins. We had a all this BEFORE the planning BLIGHT decended on the town, the town councillors are ultimately to blame, bunch of *******.

Being Balbriggan born and bred Im entitled to tell you how I feel about you living in my town.

Regarding Blow-ins:
Now I must admit that on more than one occassion I have cursed the attitudes of some of the blow ins, let me stress that i know you're not all like this, but in my opinion, some of you have helped to nurture the inevitable city slicker attitude prevailing in the town (admittedly an equal amount of it is home grown as more and more of us embrace the commuter lifestyle), but downright plain ignorance is evident everywhere.shops,queues,lack of patience bubbling over to honking of horns and audibly grumbling and complaining about someone or other in front of you.

Theres an undercurrent of something bad in the town that hasnt been there before, there has always been petty crime, the odd car broken into or house and it wouldve been HUGE news, now its ACCEPTED as the norm, not good enough in my book. I personally think that its mostly to do with us all living like battery hens, piled on top of each other, no personal space, home doesnt feel like home anymore, there are elderly people in the town who are absolutely petrified to open their door at night, only TEN years ago, my grandparents house on High Street always had the key in the OUTSIDE of the front door until they went to bed.

ive HAD to move to a house in legoland from my homestead in the heart of old balbriggan and couldnt afford anywhere else (partly because of the influx of you bleeding blowins putting house prices in a geostationary orbit!!) which i'm not best pleased with.

While its an ok area, its all so f*cking claustraphobic but not as bad as Id thought, Ive noticed that the non local neighbours keep to themselves, they barely acknowledge you, then, at the weekend when you have your best chance to get to know someone, THEY ALL F*CK OFF HOME!!! I mean like seriously, legoland becomes a ghost town.

Also, whats with the cars EVERYWHERE parked on kerbs when they HAVE spaces out the back or in one of those parking lots. I can barely get up or down Hamlet Lane at O Dwyers! I know NO-ONE in the town now, you meet a local and its a f*cking surprise. Im thinking of asking Ricky Tomlinson to write a book about planning in ireland called "QUALITY of life my ar$e"

Johnny Foreigner:
Not to mention our friends from other countries, some are very nice and Ive made great friends with them. At work quite a few of my colleagues are from EU or African nations.

Yet Ive also found an equal portion of them to be twice as bad as the worst dublin scoby. My biggest irk being, People shoving you onto / off the trains, jumping queues, no respect for elders, thats something that didnt happen only FIVE years ago.

Now while I am all for freedom of expression, culture, religion, etc I think that people need to open their eyes, but for the love of whatever God(s) you worship, please make an effort to embrace OUR culture and respect OUR heritage in the way that you expect us to do for yours, as ultimately YOU have made a decision to move here and SOME amount of adoption of local practices is inevitable.

On another point: (not just you blowins so chill out)
some RETARD drove out in front of me last night on a tiny motorbike WITH NOT EVEN A LIGHT IN SIGHT, up at the graveyard, it was an adult man on one of those mini Racing motorbikes, now if you know who he is, PM me, im going to make sure I give him a good kicking in the stones (ok, he could be a crazy local, but its a new phenomenon these quads and mini bikes). Now when I phoned the Gardai, to my shock and horror, they simply said, "Oh yeah
he'll be around all night now, sure we'll send a squad car" when not 5 minutes before, I could have been bouncing over his dead, CRUSHED, BODY BECAUSE HE WAS ILLEGALLY DRIVING A NON TAXED OR LICENCED VEHICLE ON A PUBLIC ROAD AT NIGHT WITH NO LIGHTS OR HELMET!!! Im sure they wouldve been quick enough sending that squad car then.

GARDAI cop on, everyone who reads this thread, please get on to that wig wearing muppet who calls to your door looking for YOUR vote and kindly ask him, WHERE THE F*CK WERE YOU THE REST OF THE YEAR!???"


Now you tell me that they are about to spoil one of the most scenic places in fingal, the Barnagheera coastline? The view from the low wall at the picnic areas on a fine summers day is uncomparable anywhere else on the east coast.

Its becoming EVERYTHING that I despise about Dublin.

Hope I havent offended anyone too much, believe me ive edited and re-edited this little tantrum 6 or 7 times and just a point of how I actually feel and I KNOW that Im not the only local that feels this way.

Its time to become a tradesman and move away.

sgarvan

well said Morphéus.
As you have said you are not the only local that feels like this.
I am another one.

blastman

Nope, not the only local that feels like that. Although technically still a blow-in, I've grown up in Balbriggan, and a lot of the recent changes haven't been for the better, in my opinion.

dubmick

Some good points in your rant but comments like this ..not just you blowins so chill out.. make you sound very narrow minded. What are we supposed to say to people that are not from the town?? don't live here?

There has been some shocking planning in this town, there is no doubt about this.

In 2007 it is not realistic to leave your key in the door no matter where you live.

I often give out about people parking the car on the road in Moylaragh as I am driving to Dunnes but these people where told that there estate would be a cul de sac. Again back to the planning.

I find most people in the town very polite. And the so called 'blow ins' not mixing, everyone has the right to keep to themselves if they want to and they also have the right to go home at the weekend.

wow sierra

Dont associate the cinema or other amenities etc with blow-ins. We had a all this BEFORE the planning BLIGHT decended on the town, the town councillors are ultimately to blame, bunch of *******.

If I was setting up a business ( a restaurant, cinema etc) I would be far more likely to set one up in a town with a population of 16 thousand than one with five thousand. Its basic supply and demand.

As regards taking offence - the only comment I took offence to is the assumption by Bluetonic that the car thief was from the new area. Thats all. I agree with all the negative comments about the planning of the new estates. Unfortunately while the rediculous overdevelopment of Dublin and the East, at the expense of the rest of the country, continues nothing is going to change. Thats supply and demand too. I do feel sorry for the original residents of Balbriggan - I'm only here 6 years and I'm nostalgic for what the place was like then. Having said that I still find Balbriggan a great place to live and now that I can afford to live somewhere else I've no interest in moving. In general I agree with you that we all need to slow down and use a bit of common curtesy with people but I haven't found Balbriggan particularly bad on this front.
As regards leaving the key in the door - my father who lives in rural Ireland miles from the nearest town won't leave the key in the door going over the farm for half an hour!!

Bluetonic

wow sierra wrote:

As regards taking offence - the only comment I took offence to is the assumption by Bluetonic that the car thief was from the new area. Thats all.

Where exaclty did I assume it was anyone from the new area of the town? Have a look again and actually take some time out to read what I said. Please don't misrepresent me again.

Bluetonic wrote:

Considering I'm guessing you live on one end of the town (and I'm hoping you don't go down the route of naming the exact area) I'd imagine it's wandering souls from the other end.

This particular incident happened on one end of the town and I'm lead to believe that the perpetrators came from an area which is established over 35 years at the other end of the town. As a blow in I would recommend that you educate yourself a little and realise that on both sides of the town there are new and old areas.

Chinafoot

Lads, can we all just relax a little bit please?

Morpheus

wow sierra wrote:

If I was setting up a business ( a restaurant, cinema etc) I would be far more likely to set one up in a town with a population of 16 thousand than one with five thousand. Its basic supply and demand.

Justifying how the town had become better because of blowins by a cinema opening or a new place to eat / drink opening is a silly argument.

How does that make, what was a nice place to live, better?

better for whom? the old locals? ask them.

I put my hand on my heart and tell you that if you took everyone who has lived in the town for 6 or 7 years and asked them if they had the choice for having our town back the way it was then, or the new "super" town we live in now, what would they take?

The VAST majority would be standing in my corner.


By the way, the town HAD a cinema for YEARS before there were 16 thousand lemmings living here. The community opposite Exile Clothing (the old Garda Station) hall, was the Savoy Cinema.

:cool:

Wishbone Ash

Morph&#233 wrote: »

the town HAD a cinema for YEARS before there were 16 thousand lemmings living here. The community opposite Exile Clothing (the old Garda Station) hall, was the Savoy Cinema

I seem to recall that it only opened at Christmas and Easter!

Bluetonic

Wishbone Ash wrote:

I seem to recall that it only opened at Christmas and Easter!

Towards the end of it's life it did but all through the 1950s, 1960, 1970 and to mid 1980 it was open every night.

Wishbone Ash

Bluetonic wrote:

Towards the end of it's life it did but all through the 1950s, 1960, 1970 and to mid 1980 it was open every night.

That explains it. I only recall it from the mid 80s onwards when I was working with a lad from Balbriggan.

aniascor

Going back to the OP about thieving scum, I think there is definitely a problem of petty crime around the town that is not being addressed. I think I've complained on here before about my bike being vandalized down at the station. Last week it happened again - one night the tire was punctured, and then the next night the lights were broken off the bike. Knowing it would do no good, I went into the guards and complained anyway. When I asked why there weren't any foot patrols down around the station as a deterrent to this ongoing issue, I was told that there had been no other reports of any vandalism or damage of any kind being done down at the station, so there was no need for it.

But I'd imagine that things aren't being reported because nothing is done when you report something.

I know when the politicians come knocking in the next few months, I'll be talking to them about getting extra garda resources for the town, and the need for a visible garda presence in the town.

PS - I was shocked to see a squad car down at the train station last night and thought finally they were checking on it at night - but no, they were down there to confiscate a quad bike that was being driven on the roads! The guard who drove it back up to the garda station looked delighted with himself!

Wishbone Ash

aniascor wrote:

I was told that there had been no other reports of any vandalism or damage of any kind being done down at the station, so there was no need for it

PM sent.

aniascor

Thanks wishbone ash.

This wasn't the first time I've reported an incident of vandalism myself - so I knew I was being fobbed off. I just didn't have the energy to argue the point.