Dublin's Inner City 'Zombies'

Sadb

super_furry wrote: »

How many cities have you visited? Dublin's drug and homeless problem is relatively minuscule compared to most other major international cities.

I’ve been to Birmingham, London, Nantes and Madrid in the last 2 years and I would say Dublin is far worse than those tbh. The one main difference is that all those cities have a huge police presence especially Nantes, where the ordinary police look like swat teams.

Neither Talbot Street or anypart of the Boardwalk is a no go area, at least during the day, evenings from my experience.

As others have mentioned the zombies etc are very much a minority group. I reckon many folk just think anyone in a tracksuit is a junkie tbh and like to appear all worldly wise discussing Dublin's drug issue.

El Tarangu

Ray Palmer wrote: »

You as a native would go routes tourists wouldn't. Walk around any western city and you will find them.

You see junkies shuffling up and down the length of Dame St., and most certainly by James' Gate and Christchurch, where I am sure a lot of tourists go. I've lived in a few countries myself, and never seen anywhere that even comes close to Dublin in terms of junkies.

Keyzer

Augeo wrote: »

Neither Talbot Street or anypart of the Boardwalk is a no go area, at least during the day, evenings from my experience.

I disagree. Talbot St during the day is awful.

It should be carpet bombed.

Keyzer

Keyzer wrote: »

I disagree..........

Well that's not surprising given you were the one mentioning Talbot Street was a no go area

dk1982

super_furry wrote: »

Madrid, Paris, London, Manchester, Glasgow Lisbon, San Francisco - sweet Jesus I've never seen more people **** in the street than in San Francisco - they're all much, much worse than Dublin. Even Rome is collapsing under it's own rubbish.

I'm not saying that there isn't a problem, but it's nowhere near as bad as most other major cities.

was in San Fran this time last year. literally saw a woman in the middle of the day hold up the traffic on a street off union square to have a sh*te.

Spanish Eyes

That would be the result of so many treatment centres sited in the City Centre. They all meet up get their methadone and then go wandering. Now they are putting an injection centre in Merchants Quay also.

To be fair once they get their fix they are not aggressive.

But putting those treatment places in the city is probably worth a re think.

But sure we can’t even sort out the traffic or the litter etc either. Dublin needs a directly elected mayor with money and power to make it work for everyone. Bit of a shambles at the moment.

dhaughton99

Deebles McBeebles wrote: »

I'm getting all reminiscent now. Do they still deal openly out the front of the corpo building on the quays?

I walked past the corpo building last Monday around 10 in the morn and the taxis would slow to a crawl with a junkie hanging from the passsnger seat and do the deal while still moving. Extraordinary to see.

SHOVELLER

Dublin is unique to have treatment centres in the city centre. Ludicrous thinking. Granted junkies mostly will not attack tourists but that is not the point. It is the visuals that is.

There is no excuse for aimlessly allowing them roam around the city.

Dont get me started on junkies being allowed to claim unemployment for their whole lives. How Irish.

Floppybits

The problem is that Dublin is such a small city compared to others being compared to here, also I doubt you will get a methadone clinic on a street off the Champs Elysee in Paris.  I was in San Francisco and remember being around Mission street and lots of zombies around there, even seen some guy running down the street in a negligee, that wasn't a pretty sight.

corner of hells

Floppybits wrote: »

The problem is that Dublin is such a small city compared to others being compared to here, also I doubt you will get a methadone clinic on a street of Champs Elysee in Paris.  I was in San Francisco and remember being around Mission street and lots of zombies around there, even seen some guy running down the street in a negligee, that wasn't a pretty sight.

I don't there's a methadone clinic in O Connell street either.

Floppybits

corner of hells wrote: »

Floppybits wrote: »

The problem is that Dublin is such a small city compared to others being compared to here, also I doubt you will get a methadone clinic on a street of Champs Elysee in Paris.  I was in San Francisco and remember being around Mission street and lots of zombies around there, even seen some guy running down the street in a negligee, that wasn't a pretty sight.

I don't there's a methadone clinic in O Connell street either.

Corrected for nit pickers like yourself.

corner of hells

Floppybits wrote: »

Corrected for nit pickers like yourself.

Okay ? I'm not sure what your point is.

Floppybits

corner of hells wrote: »

Floppybits wrote: »

Corrected for nit pickers like yourself.

Okay ?  I'm not sure what your point is.

My point is that you don't have methadone clinics a stones throw from the main street in the capital.

corner of hells

Floppybits wrote: »

My point is that you don't have methadone clinics a stones throw from the main street in the capital.

Yeah , there's Amiens St , Castle Street , a some chemists have a small number on scripts , Pearse St .. all these I suppose would be close , there's a few more too

conorhal

super_furry wrote: »

Madrid, Paris, London, Manchester, Glasgow Lisbon, San Francisco - sweet Jesus I've never seen more people **** in the street than in San Francisco - they're all much, much worse than Dublin. Even Rome is collapsing under it's own rubbish.

I'm not saying that there isn't a problem, but it's nowhere near as bad as most other major cities.

Oh just give it time.


If there's one thing Ireland excels at, it's looking at the problems and growing pains that other major cities have experienced, and with the compete benefit of that hindsight...... go on to repeat EXACTLY the same mistakes.

irishash

corner of hells wrote: »

Yeah , there's Amiens St , Castle Street , a some chemists have a small number on scripts , Pearse St .. all these I suppose would be close , there's a few more too

Townsend St as well.

Reason I have often been told as to why there are lots of treatment centres in the city centre is down to the lack (in the past) of resident associations. Story is HSE or government would try to set up a centre in a quiet area outside of the city centre, like Lucan or Sandyford. The well organised community and resident associations out in places like that would kick up a huge row over having junkies in there areas and "won't somebody please think of the children" hyperbole.

But when they looked to set up centres in the city centre, there was almost no objections at the time, with the city centre made up mostly of retail units and apartments occupied by younger people too busy to see what is going on in their vicinity. So the authorities that set these things up went hog wild and created as many centres as possible before people noticed.

As for the OP's initial question, I lived in the city centre for about 10 years, from 2005 to 2015. It was always the same, never changed.

Ray Palmer

Sadb wrote: »

I’ve been to Birmingham, London, Nantes and Madrid in the last 2 years and I would say Dublin is far worse than those tbh. The one main difference is that all those cities have a huge police presence especially Nantes, where the ordinary police look like swat teams.

How can you say that about Madrid? The place is overrun with hookers. The police standing around watching them get business. In broad daylight.

You would need to be blind not to see them along with the junkies who are also hookers.

I think some people here just don't notice foreign drug addicts the way some tourists see people in tracksuits are athletes.

dhaughton99

dhaughton99 wrote: »

I walked past the corpo building last Monday around 10 in the morn and the taxis would slow to a crawl with a junkie hanging from the passsnger seat and do the deal while still moving. Extraordinary to see.

I'll take "things that never happened" for $500, please Bob.

pxdf9i5cmoavkz

conorhal wrote: »

Oh just give it time.

If there's one thing Ireland excels at it's looking at the problems that major cities have experienced, and with the compete benefit of the hindsight...... go on to repeat EXACTLY the same ones.

QFE

Kermit.de.frog

Need a police force first and a justice system second before these issues can be tackled.

We have neither.

The Hound Gone Wild

Floppybits wrote: »

My point is that you don't have methadone clinics a stones throw from the main street in the capital.

Both pharmacies on O'Connell at have 20-30 methadone patients each I'd say.

Grayson

Keyzer wrote: »

Agreed - I love San Francisco but parts of the city are true no go areas. As in, you dont go there because you wont come back e.g. Tenderloin.

I've seen literally hundreds of people sleeping in car parks in San Francisco. More homeless people there than I've seen anywhere else and lots of lunatics walking around shouting for no reason.

Dublin has bad parts e.g. Talbot street is a kip. Just stay away from those areas. Was in town with the kids on Sat, mainly on Grafton st and surrounding areas, no bother at all.

I just spent a month in SF. The homelessness is the worst I've ever seen. I've been to close to 30 countries now and it's bad there.

Grayson

Kermit.de.frog wrote: »

Need a police force first and a justice system second before these issues can be tackled.

We have neither.

What can they do? most of the time the junkies harmless. I walk through the city centre most days and I've never seen them bother anyone. Sure they get into shouting matches with each other, they'll try to scab a fag and some beg, but they're rarely violent.

One of the senior executives in my company lived next to merchants quay for two years when they arrived from the US. It shocked them at first but they got used to it and even they say the junkies are harmless.

The vast majority of addicts are just addicts and aren't violent. If they were then we'd have daily, hourly even, muggings and attacks. We don't.

The worst thing about them is the sight of them shambling around, but that's not a crime is it? We do need to have better drug treatment and better addiction services, but those are public health issues, not policing issues.

ShaneC93

Same As wrote: »

Boardwalks are absolutely no-go.

Really? All the people hating on the boardwalks seem to never have actually used them.

I used to walk from Smithfield to Connolly along the quays after work, this was typically between 10 pm to 1am and I'd use the boardwalks most days. Very rare to see any 'zombies', maybe once every couple of weeks and that's the sort of hour I'd have thought they'd be out at.

The regular boardwalk user at that hour seemed to be mainly wandering tourists, drunk people & the odd homeless person on the benches if it was dry.

Kermit.de.frog

Grayson wrote: »

What can they do? most of the time the junkies harmless. I walk through the city centre most days and I've never seen them bother anyone. Sure they get into shouting matches with each other, they'll try to scab a fag and some beg, but they're rarely violent.

One of the senior executives in my company lived next to merchants quay for two years when they arrived from the US. It shocked them at first but they got used to it and even they say the junkies are harmless.

The vast majority of addicts are just addicts and aren't violent. If they were then we'd have daily, hourly even, muggings and attacks. We don't.

The worst thing about them is the sight of them shambling around, but that's not a crime is it? We do need to have better drug treatment and better addiction services, but those are public health issues, not policing issues.

Not having all the treatment centers concentrated in the small city center would be a start.

From a planning perspective that is self vandalism dragging them all in to the heart of the city every day.

And like flies on sh!t all the petty criminals converge in the same places as well. Lower the tone and the behaviour follows.

Princess Consuela Bananahammock

SHOVELLER wrote: »

Dublin is unique to have treatment centres in the city centre. Ludicrous thinking. Granted junkies mostly will not attack tourists but that is not the point. It is the visuals that is.

There is no excuse for aimlessly allowing them roam around the city.

Dont get me started on junkies being allowed to claim unemployment for their whole lives. How Irish.

.... therein lies the problem. No one wants to do anything about it other than sweep it under the carpet or move it to some out-of-the-way location where we don't have to look at it. I'd agree that having treatment centers outside of the city but in terms of practicality: how do you expect the junkies to get to them? And where do you expect them to go afterwards?

If they don't have some sort of welfare, they most certainly WILL start attacking tourists Now you can attack me all you want and claim that I'm pro-welfare for anyone if you want, but that won't change the fact that I'm pretty much correct.

Portugal decriminalised drug-use; Norway's considering same. Think that would have any effect? Or what solutions do you suggest to actually tackle the problem?

Snake Plisken

Ray Palmer wrote: »

How can you say that about Madrid? The place is overrun with hookers. The police standing around watching them get business. In broad daylight.

You would need to be blind not to see them along with the junkies who are also hookers.

I think some people here just don't notice foreign drug addicts the way some tourists see people in tracksuits are athletes.

Madrid is nowhere as bad as Dublin sure the cops turn a blind eye to the putas around the city centre but I don't see the same amount of junky scum in and around Sol compared to that congrigate in and around the main Street of out captial city.
Now african migrant ganga selling knock off Real Madrid T shirts handbags etc now that's a different matter!

corner of hells

irishash wrote: »

Townsend St as well.

Reason I have often been told as to why there are lots of treatment centres in the city centre is down to the lack (in the past) of resident associations. Story is HSE or government would try to set up a centre in a quiet area outside of the city centre, like Lucan or Sandyford. The well organised community and resident associations out in places like that would kick up a huge row over having junkies in there areas and "won't somebody please think of the children" hyperbole.

But when they looked to set up centres in the city centre, there was almost no objections at the time, with the city centre made up mostly of retail units and apartments occupied by younger people too busy to see what is going on in their vicinity. So the authorities that set these things up went hog wild and created as many centres as possible before people noticed.

As for the OP's initial question, I lived in the city centre for about 10 years, from 2005 to 2015. It was always the same, never changed.

Originally chemists and clinics prescribing methadone were set up in areas where heroin was a problem.

I'm not sure Lucan ever had a heroin problem warranting a clinic.

The last figure I heard about the amount of clinics chemists prescribing in the city centre was 17.

Junkyard Tom

Ye need some hard-assed cigar-chewing whiskey-drinkin' City Mayor with a strong New York accent to come along and clean that shit up.