Desperate Times call for desperate measures?

mike65

Not sure what to think about this, as part of the regeneration of Limerick cities slum/criminal hotspots its proposed that those who will be looking for local authority housing shoud be subject to clearance by the Gardai.

Individuals will have to obtain Garda clearance before they are allocated local authority housing in deprived areas of Limerick city if a major Government regeneration plan is adopted. Carl O'Brien , Social Affairs Correspondent, reports

This is one of a series of radical proposals contained in plans for the demolition and rebuilding of the Moyross and Southill areas. The plan is due to be launched by President Mary McAleese later this month.

The proposal that applicants for housing should obtain a "certificate of eligibility" and Garda clearance is likely to spark a public debate over whether the plans go too far in addressing the issue of criminality in the area.

Full article here

It has an obvious attraction esp if used in a specific location which has been "infected" by criminal elements but if people have to live somewhere then it doesn't actually solve the ultimate problem of endemic criminality within a social/faimily group. Also if its seen to work would be applied more generally?

Mike

eoin5

I like the idea of breaking up centres of criminal activity but I fear its gonna spread the muck around more. The criminal influence might affect more people as the bad guys show up in your neighbourhood influencing your kids etc. It might work but the powers that be will have to keep a very close eye on what people go where.

Orion

All it will lead to is more slums and centres of crime. Let's say 3 criminal families get houses in one estate. That estate goes downhill. The respectable residents leave to a 'better' estate. And more undesirables move in. Eventually that estate becomes the new slum. It's a pattern that has happened all over the world countless times.

Macha

That's why they're following the advice of the Fitzgerald report.

Criminality isn't a zero-sum game. Not saying you can erradicate it completely..

Orion

IMO what they're proposing won't eradicate any of it. It'll just move it around. It's akin to a child moving food around on their plate instead of eating their dinner.

Sleepy

Macros42 wrote: »

All it will lead to is more slums and centres of crime. Let's say 3 criminal families get houses in one estate. That estate goes downhill. The respectable residents leave to a 'better' estate. And more undesirables move in. Eventually that estate becomes the new slum. It's a pattern that has happened all over the world countless times.

In a way, isn't it better to keep all the scum in a single estate?

Easier to keep an eye on them, isolate them, keep others away from their drug wars etc?

Fence 'em in and let 'em kill each other imho.

seamus

Sleepy wrote: »

In a way, isn't it better to keep all the scum in a single estate?

Easier to keep an eye on them, isolate them, keep others away from their drug wars etc?

Fence 'em in and let 'em kill each other imho.

In practice it doesn't always work that way though. Plenty of people are scum long before they gather any kind of criminal convictions. And if you start sticking people into estates with other scum based on a Garda's word, that's a bit of a slippery slope.
Not to mention that a family with unruly children put into a known bad estate is bascially condemning those kids to become scumbags.

The issue of scum seems to be something which western countries (most notably ourselves, the UK and the US) struggle with more than others. Every country has its dodgy element, but I think our legal systems have left us in a position where the dodgy elements hold a lot of the cards and have basically lost any fear of the legal system. Not to mention that our prison system tends to catch those on the verge of being complete write offs and pushes them over the edge.