Junkies taken off our streets yesterday!.

arybvtcw0eolkf

Anyone see yesterdays news and the video clips from around Butt Bridge (Boardwalk), Christchurch and the Merchants Quay area's?.

The Guard's ran an operation code named 'Feeder' aimed at ridding the streets of its vermin, I wonder if I'll see the same dirty back in their usual places on my travels today, I suspect I will.

From yesterdays Indo.

And in another welcomed turn of events Gardai will patrol the LUAS on the weekends to combat anti-social activity on the line - FROM THE INDO

The vermin have to feed their habit so I suspect they'll come crawling back soon enough.

.

brendansmith

Yeah they'll be back.

We should ship em all to Baltimore and let McNulty deal with em!

BraziliaNZ

Yeah ship them all to Hamsterdam!

ParkRunner

Fair play to the gardai for finally taking some action on this chronic problem in the city. I do worry though what will happen with those arrested as there is no room in the jails to put them and having a criminal charge against their name probably wont deter most of them from going straight back into the business.

_blank_

Ismael Melodic Mandrill wrote: »

Anyone see yesterdays news and the video clips from around Butt Bridge (Boardwalk), Christchurch and the Merchants Quay area's?.

The Guard's ran an operation code named 'Feeder' aimed at ridding the streets of its vermin, I wonder if I'll see the same dirty back in their usual places on my travels today, I suspect I will.

From yesterdays Indo.

Great news, but they'll be back no doubt.

Might take a walk around there at Lunch time and see what it's like.

Ismael Melodic Mandrill wrote: »

And in another welcomed turn of events Gardai will patrol the LUAS on the weekends to combat anti-social activity on the line - FROM THE INDO

I got the Red Line Luas on Tuesday at ~7PM, and two very large Eastern European men got on, they were obviously Security Guards of some description, but they looked like soldiers without guns.

Dressed in black they were.

I wouldn't mess with them lads.

_blank_

A reminder;

This is not After Hours.

Let's keep some civility please

Des

gurramok

They are back already, about a dozen junkies hanging about this morning at 9am on Butt bridge at Tara st.

_blank_

That's my lunchtime walk cancelled then.

JimiTime

Great news. Problem is, if they just get a wrap on the knuckles and are free again, this will be like a badge of honour to them. It'll once again show them that they can get away with being a plague on society and that nothing of real consaquence will happen to them. Like children with parents who keep saying, 'If you do that, I'll do such and such', without actually following through. Eventually the children cop on that they can pretty much keep getting away with it.

the_syco

Des wrote: »

I got the Red Line Luas on Tuesday at ~7PM, and two very large Eastern European men got on, they were obviously Security Guards of some description, but they looked like soldiers without guns.

Sounds like the lads who are used to patrol the commuter trains in Dublin. They speak a little english usually.

ParkRunner

The ironic thing is that an operation like this may increase gangland violence as debts won't be paid as drugs are confiscated and drug dealers get suspicious about who exactly they are bringing into their circle.

Slow Motion

Maybe I have become too cynical, but unless actual charges are pressed and sentences that include incarceration are handed out then this becomes nothing more than a PR stunt for the Garda and Politicians!

Amalgam

What gets me is that quite a few are dual use users, street and clinic. Fiddling with bottles of Physeptone etc.

Is there a need in 2009, in Dublin, to (in my eyes) extend and accomodate people with clinical opiates?

I pity traders on the Quays, the crap they put up with, particularly when the 'tide' comes in, between 11am and 2pm.

latenia

The problem won't be solved until the hostels are moved out of the city centre. At the very least they should open all day so that hundreds of junkies aren't thrown out onto the streets every morning. Town should be an amenity for everyone but there are parts of it that are totally dominated by filthy junkie scummers who are encouraged by government policy to congregate there from all corners of Dublin. I don't see why the cops can't even break up the large groups that congregate in the areas mentioned-one or two junkies dotted around the place looks a lot better than 20 sitting together.

It will probably come down to businesses in town taking some kind of action such as withholding their rates until something is done.

kippy

I have to say, it was only Tuesday afternoon when I was getting a taxi from Heuston to town that I realised what a disgrace the boardwalk was. The taxi driver started talking about it. He was telling me about all the junkies that hang out on it. There were some tourists taking pictures on it, walking with kids etc. Taxi driver reckoned they were brave people.

Its not a great picture of Dublin to be honest to be displaying to our tourists. The boardwalk was a great addition to the capital, now its degraded into what I would call an absolute no go area. I was happy to hear about the arrests the next day, anything to clean up the place a bit.

The issues wont be solved until there is another option for these people and drug crime is stamped out/moderated better. I personally feel sorry for a lot of them having slipped into that lifestyle. Still, something has to be done about it.

Degsy

Check the middle of marlboro st,near Barney's amusements.I was heading into work at 1.30 pm and there were about 20 junkies hanging about when one of them shouted "Who wants Phy?" triggering a stampede like sainsburys the week before xmas.
It wouldnt be TOO bad except there was a cop on a bicycle just up the street who completely ignored them.

BraziliaNZ

remember a few years ago there was some stuff in the media about garda clampdown on the boardwalks, that they were cleaning them up, was anything actually done?

Amalgam

The nature of the seating on the the boardwalk, encourages sleeping on the benches during the day, people down on their luck, drink problems etc.

anonymous_joe

The problem is, most people want the junkies gone, but most people also wouldn't want to see the Guards kicking seven kinds of shít out of them in public before fcuking them into vans and driving them off.

I've never in my life understood the logic of a tourist city like Dublin putting so much of the drug infrastructure in the city centre. I remember walking to jury duty a few years ago and there were people dealing outside the Corporation offices a stone's throw from the Four Courts.

Also, while doing something for my dad, was grabbing a Luas at the Four Courts, and got to see guys lighting up what weren't cigarettes while the guards wandered by happily.

BraziliaNZ

anonymous_joe wrote: »

The problem is, most people want the junkies gone, but most people also wouldn't want to see the Guards kicking seven kinds of shít out of them in public before fcuking them into vans and driving them off.

I've never in my life understood the logic of a tourist city like Dublin putting so much of the drug infrastructure in the city centre. I remember walking to jury duty a few years ago and there were people dealing outside the Corporation offices a stone's throw from the Four Courts.

Also, while doing something for my dad, was grabbing a Luas at the Four Courts, and got to see guys lighting up what weren't cigarettes while the guards wandered by happily.

Yeah tell me about it, i've to work in the four courts every day. Anyway yeah people don't want to see them getting battered half dead but some use of force to get them off the streets is necessary. There should be some kind of patrol , assign a few cars to it, just getting them to clear off, eventually they'd get the picture and hopefully move their business somewhere else. Or we could designate a certain area for them to do all their stuff.

anonymous_joe

BraziliaNZ wrote: »

Yeah tell me about it, i've to work in the four courts every day. Anyway yeah people don't want to see them getting battered half dead but some use of force to get them off the streets is necessary. There should be some kind of patrol , assign a few cars to it, just getting them to clear off, eventually they'd get the picture and hopefully move their business somewhere else. Or we could designate a certain area for them to do all their stuff.

Yeah, both my parents work in that neck of the woods, and the area between the Four Courts and the rest of town is kinda nasty. It's sad really.

I do agree that something needs to be done about the problem. In some ways, legalising heroin would make things a lot better, because taking the drug dealers out of the equation would greatly reduce the need for petty crime.

As an aside, while wandering through Temple Bar last night, it was relatively empty, but looking around, most people were tourists, with a fairly high smattering of junkies. It's just not nice to see.

Jay D

I am unsure whether they were powerless to do this for the past 15 years at least or what? Like this is a good move but why the fúck has it taken so long for such action to be taken?

I hate walking round that area not out of fear but having cúnts come up asking you are ya scorin' bud, lookin' etc. Life is ruined and they have no hope. Why do people turn to heroin?

BraziliaNZ

according to the article they just busted a few drug dealers around the outskirts of the inner city. There was no talk of rounding up the low lifes hanging around tourist and shopping areas.

gurramok

Des wrote: »

That's my lunchtime walk cancelled then.

They were there on the eastern side of the bridge as i was on the way to work.

I pray that don't wander into the docklands(southisde at least:D), its one place where there are alot less of them.

Gavin "shels"

Des wrote: »

I got the Red Line Luas on Tuesday at ~7PM, and two very large Eastern European men got on, they were obviously Security Guards of some description, but they looked like soldiers without guns.

Dressed in black they were.

I wouldn't mess with them lads.

It's the same on the DART, they're huge feckers.

Kernel

latenia wrote: »

The problem won't be solved until the hostels are moved out of the city centre. At the very least they should open all day so that hundreds of junkies aren't thrown out onto the streets every morning. Town should be an amenity for everyone but there are parts of it that are totally dominated by filthy junkie scummers who are encouraged by government policy to congregate there from all corners of Dublin. I don't see why the cops can't even break up the large groups that congregate in the areas mentioned-one or two junkies dotted around the place looks a lot better than 20 sitting together.

It will probably come down to businesses in town taking some kind of action such as withholding their rates until something is done.

You make a very good point. Merchant Quay project and methadone clinics should be moved out of the city centre altogether in order to stop drug addicts infesting the place. A lot of it is down to Dublin City Council planning. Guards can't move on groups of people waiting outside clinics for them to open, as complaints will come in from places like Merchants Quay and the liberal brigade. The city is rotten to the core with heroin, and your street dealer is not the problem; it's the guys who are making a lot of money from peddling this filth. What the country needs is a massive detox prison, mandatory sentencing for prolific drug addicts - a place where prisoners have no direct contact with anybody from the outside, and proper medical detox programs.

JimiTime

Kernel wrote: »

You make a very good point. Merchant Quay project and methadone clinics should be moved out of the city centre altogether in order to stop drug addicts infesting the place. A lot of it is down to Dublin City Council planning. Guards can't move on groups of people waiting outside clinics for them to open, as complaints will come in from places like Merchants Quay and the liberal brigade. The city is rotten to the core with heroin, and your street dealer is not the problem; it's the guys who are making a lot of money from peddling this filth. What the country needs is a massive detox prison, mandatory sentencing for prolific drug addicts - a place where prisoners have no direct contact with anybody from the outside, and proper medical detox programs.

I agree with some of that. Moving the clinics to somewhere some other poor locals have to face them is not a solution though IMO.
A few volunteers to loosen the bolts of the boardwalk might be an answer though;):)

admiralofthefleet

Degsy wrote: »

Check the middle of marlboro st,near Barney's amusements.I was heading into work at 1.30 pm and there were about 20 junkies hanging about when one of them shouted "Who wants Phy?" triggering a stampede like sainsburys the week before xmas.
It wouldnt be TOO bad except there was a cop on a bicycle just up the street who completely ignored them.

i feel uneasy walking by there.

even if the junkies are kept off the boardwalk they will just find somewhere else, the laneway beside wynns hotel is notorious.

on a slightly different subject i was appaled at the sight of drunks sleeping on the ground in o connell street yesterday afternoon where the bag shop used to be. surely the gardaí can move them on or put them in a cell to dry out

arybvtcw0eolkf

Sad to report that the vermin are back, but I noticed this morning that in trying not to draw so much attention on themselves that they're actually spread out a lot further than normal (at least around the Butt Bridge junction).

Today the rats spread from O'Connell Bridge down as far as the Matt Talbot bridge on both sides of the river, up Marlboro St and the Townsend St/Luke St/Moss St & Pierce St.

They make my skin crawl.

.

Amalgam

admiralofthefleet wrote: »

the laneway beside wynns hotel is notorious.

You wouldn't believe the amount of drug users that have died in that laneway over the years, it pops up in the news every so often. I never use the ATM's close to there.

R.D. aka MR.D

Degsy wrote: »

It wouldnt be TOO bad except there was a cop on a bicycle just up the street who completely ignored them.

I was in town last week doin a bit of shooping and was walking over the hapenney bridge. the lights were red and i was looking over towards the big long centra in temple bar.

outside the door there were two scummers and a skinny well dressed guy. I thought oh i hope there not hassling that man, he looked kinda spanish or something.

then he takes out his wallet and hands them money and they hand him something which he pops in his mouth.

they seaperate and walk off.

light turns green.

i walk through the centra because i hate the smell in the archway and whats standing at the other door.

two of our finest gardai, looking at the postcards!!

all i could do was laugh! :rolleyes:

saw the well dressed man stagger out of the pub on the square at the corner a while later.

what hope do we have!

JimiTime

Does anyone actually know why our Guardai don't give a toss about this crime? I work at Georges Quay from time to time, and around Tara Street/Butt bridge, I've seen all sorts of Junkie related shenanigans. I've also seen it go on in front of the Gardai Also, I seen two junkies openly flaunt their dealings 'I mean right next' to a Garda at O'Connell bridge On that same day, in fact within 30 mins, there was 2 Gardai moving on a Busker in Grafton street I feckin Lament this city, I really do:(:mad

carlop

BraziliaNZ wrote: »

Yeah tell me about it, i've to work in the four courts every day. Anyway yeah people don't want to see them getting battered half dead but some use of force to get them off the streets is necessary. There should be some kind of patrol , assign a few cars to it, just getting them to clear off, eventually they'd get the picture and hopefully move their business somewhere else. Or we could designate a certain area for them to do all their stuff.

BraziliaNZ wrote: »

Yeah ship them all to Hamsterdam!

Certainly the idea of a Hamsterdam has quite a lot going for it, at least as a temporary solution.

For those who haven't watched 'The Wire,' Hamsterdam was the name given to a run-down area of Baltimore where drugs were 'legalised,' the idea being that it would remove the junkies and delaers from the rest of the city.

It's obviously very difficult to implement, but it has its merits. Give up an estate in the suburbs and effectively give it to the dealers. Move any remaining residents out and relocate them, heavily police the perimeters, crack down hard on any dealers found outside the designated drug zone and hopefully sit back and watch the junkies leave the city centre.

DTrotter

Is a heroin user worse than a cocaine user?

Amalgam

Interesting question. I keep thinking of blunt and sharp. I would give the heroin addict the blunt quality, the cocaine user\addict the sharp. Both a pain in the arse to be around.

Both drugs are very 'me' drugs, abusers usually can't see past the end of their own nose, both in their immediate needs and the ego.

I don't have much sympathy. I might have had in the past, but living right in the middle of Dublin for years cures you of that..

arybvtcw0eolkf

DTrotter wrote: »

Is a heroin user worse than a cocaine user?

Opposite sides of the same coin IMO.

.

gurramok

This would be a good idea for an undercover tv crew to expose the scandal of Gardai turning their backs on the problem.

I got the impression from reading the story about the raids was that they didnt touch the dealers/junkies as they were monitoring them under that Garda Feeder Operation this week so as not to blow their cover.

So it looks like its back to square one and just a publicity stunt. :mad:

dvpower

Ismael Melodic Mandrill wrote: »

Sad to report that the vermin are back, but I noticed this morning that in trying not to draw so much attention on themselves that they're actually spread out a lot further than normal (at least around the Butt Bridge junction).

Today the rats spread from O'Connell Bridge down as far as the Matt Talbot bridge on both sides of the river, up Marlboro St and the Townsend St/Luke St/Moss St & Pierce St.

They make my skin crawl.

.

Why do you insist on referring to human beings as vermin and rats? You're supposed to be a moderator on this forum - you could start by moderating your own language.

Spiritoftheseventies

yes time for Dublin to reclaim its streets. those junkies a nuisance. but moving them on only shifts the problem elsewhere. someone else will have to deal with them. put simply its about cutting their supply.

WindSock

The Gardai would have their hands full if they had to arrest 14,000 junkies per day.
This operation was most likely carried out as a PR stunt as a Slowmotion said, just to be seen to be doing something. The Gardai can't change the circumstances that cause junkies to congregate in town.
If they were to arrest all of them there would be nowhere to put them and a waste of valuable time, money & resources. They would be out again in the next few days doing the same thing, just like now. Pissing against the wind tbh.

RoyMcC

dvpower wrote: »

Why do you insist on referring to human beings as vermin and rats? You're supposed to be a moderator on this forum - you could start by moderating your own language.

I've just popped over from the Athletics forum to back you up on this. I'm surprised as I know that Makikomi is a strong but fair moderator and I would have hoped that, as with our 'characters of Dublin', he might have a little empathy at least with those who have fallen on the wrong side of the tracks. There but for the grace of God etc.

Not denying there is a huge issue btw...

arybvtcw0eolkf

dvpower wrote: »

Why do you insist on referring to human beings as vermin and rats? You're supposed to be a moderator on this forum - you could start by moderating your own language.

Warning issued for back seat moderating.

RoyMcC wrote: »

I've just popped over from the Athletics forum to back you up on this. I'm surprised as I know that Makikomi is a strong but fair moderator and I would have hoped that, as with our 'characters of Dublin', he might have a little empathy at least with those who have fallen on the wrong side of the tracks. There but for the grace of God etc.

Not denying there is a huge issue btw...

Your verging on one, actually since you came over from another forum just to post this consider this a warning for trolling too.

If anyone else wants to test me, go ahead but in the mean time I'd appricate you took your bleeding hearts to the street cretins we're talking about - I think they might need a big hug.

dvpower

RoyMcC wrote: »

Not denying there is a huge issue btw...

I fully agree with you on that, but I don't see any great solution to dealing with junkies on the streets; moving them about does nothing to solve the problem. Arresting common or garden junkies is just a temporary reprieve.

Granted, allowing junkies take and trade drugs in open view seems mad.

Referring to them as rats and vermin is pretty disgusting. They are people whose circumstances I wouldn't wish on anyone. I can't imaging any of them set out to become junkies. I see them as pathetic figures.

arybvtcw0eolkf

dvpower wrote: »

I fully agree with you on that, but I don't see any great solution to dealing with junkies on the streets; moving them about does nothing to solve the problem. Arresting common or garden junkies is just a temporary reprieve.

Granted, allowing junkies take and trade drugs in open view seems mad.

Referring to them as rats and vermin is pretty disgusting. They are people whose circumstances I wouldn't wish on anyone. I can't imaging any of them set out to become junkies. I see them as pathetic figures.

If you want to be so prissy arsed about it even they refer to themselves as 'Addicts' and not "junkies", get this one straight before getting lippy about it with me.

Red Sleeping Beauty

Ismael Melodic Mandrill wrote: »

Anyone see yesterdays news and the video clips from around Butt Bridge (Boardwalk), Christchurch and the Merchants Quay area's?.

The Guard's ran an operation code named 'Feeder' aimed at ridding the streets of its vermin, I wonder if I'll see the same dirty back in their usual places on my travels today, I suspect I will.

From yesterdays Indo.

And in another welcomed turn of events Gardai will patrol the LUAS on the weekends to combat anti-social activity on the line - FROM THE INDO

The vermin have to feed their habit so I suspect they'll come crawling back soon enough.

.

Ismael Melodic Mandrill wrote: »

Sad to report that the vermin are back, but I noticed this morning that in trying not to draw so much attention on themselves that they're actually spread out a lot further than normal (at least around the Butt Bridge junction).

Today the rats spread from O'Connell Bridge down as far as the Matt Talbot bridge on both sides of the river, up Marlboro St and the Townsend St/Luke St/Moss St & Pierce St.

They make my skin crawl.

.

Vermin ? What do you want a special Gardai extermination team to just round up anyone labeled and put a bullet in their head ? How is that going to solve social problems ?

For whatever it's worth, funding to drug rehabilitation centres is under threat at the minute.

dvpower

Ismael Melodic Mandrill wrote: »

If you want to be so prissy arsed about it even they refer to themselves as 'Addicts' and not "junkies", get this one straight before getting lippy about it with me.

Your choice of language was over the top. I suspect you know this already.

What does 'getting lippy' mean anyway?

JimiTime

dvpower wrote: »

Your choice of language was over the top. I suspect you know this already.

What does 'getting lippy' mean anyway?

You'd probably do better asking yourself why a sizeable population of people in this city are so frustrated and jaded by what is going on, that they refer to certain people as vermin and rats. There is little to be gained by jumping on a high horse telling decent people they are out of line calling junkies (which encompass muggers, burgalars, violent criminals, abusers of passers by etc) such things. More would be gained, if we concentrated on why people are feeling like they are at the end of their tether. People like the mod you are attacking are not the bad guy here!

And btw, here is one of the definitions for Vermin:
an objectionable or obnoxious person, or such persons collectively.

Seems quite a fair description.

Remember, these people are known to beat up old people for their pension money. Hold up people with Syringes alledgedly full of infected blood etc. Its entirely reasonable to refer to such animalistic characters, in animalistic terms.

Esel

Haven't read the whole thread, but people seem to think the recent operation was aimed at junkies. It wasn't, it was aimed at suppliers.

On a lighter note:

What's the similarity between a junkie and a moped?

Ehhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh, have yeh got fifty cents, bud?

cuckoo

JimiTime wrote: »

You'd probably do better asking yourself why a sizeable population of people in this city are so frustrated and jaded by what is going on, that they refer to certain people as vermin and rats. There is little to be gained by jumping on a high horse telling decent people they are out of line calling junkies (which encompass muggers, burgalars, violent criminals, abusers of passers by etc) such things. More would be gained, if we concentrated on why people are feeling like they are at the end of their tether. People like the mod you are attacking are not the bad guy here!

+1

I feel quite comfortable calling the man who tried to rob me of my wallet on Dame Street in broad daylight 'vermin'. Him whining "i need money for my fix" at me after i freed myself from him by hitting him with my bag makes me feel quite happy in calling him a 'rat'. The sense of entitlement he felt - to touch me, to try to steal my money - I see that in a lot of the drug addicts who agressively take over areas such as the boardwalk.

I wasn't physically hurt, but was in a bit of shock afterwards. The "oh, well, junkie was it? we have your contact details, nothing was actually stolen, right?" from the guards was a little, well, frustrating. These type of incidents go on every day - drug treatment should be funded, but there should also be something done about the blight that these people are on the city.

There's something wrong with Dublin when the city council will send out investigators for noise pollution (and rightly so), but the detriment to quality of life in the city centre created by drug addicts is ignored.

anonymous_joe

Junkies aren't bad people per sé, but a junkie desperate to get a score will do almost anything. That's when they become bad people.

amacachi

Some are, some aren't.