Why is Dublin such a shιtty city?

John_Rambo · 30-12-2021 12:50am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118384778#Comment_118384778

"paying 2k rent or similar and having a disruptive group of dolers,knacks,unsociable neighbours etc next door,I think that's just kinda human nature? Am I wrong in this?"

Are you under the impression that everyone in Dublin is living this life? Who told you that?

HBC08 · 30-12-2021 12:54am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118389049#Comment_118389049

John,it's midnight in the week between Christmas and new year.You've a history of talking trough your hoop on this forum.

I'm going to choose not to engage with you if that's ok

I'll most likely have covid at some stage in January so we'll talk then.

Phil.x · 30-12-2021 1:15am

I blame the government then the greens then Owen keegan and the likes.

Pepsirebel · 30-12-2021 1:19am

Maybe it's been said before but probably worth reiterating....is it because "it's not Cork" 😂

John_Rambo · 30-12-2021 12:16pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118389061#Comment_118389061

I'm just wondering where you got your distorted impression of how people live in Dublin? Was it on Facebook?

Freight bandit · 30-12-2021 1:34pm

Took a trip in yesterday for the first time in about 2 years and couldn't wait to leave, bang of weed everywere ,open drug dealing on busy streets,a sinister atmosphere even though its more diverse and metropolitan now.when I got on the bus and was waiting for it to depart I seen 3 garda stopping and searching some young fella and his gf as they were about to get on, then hauling him away.kip

Thelonious Monk · 30-12-2021 1:37pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118390568#Comment_118390568

Why didn't you go to the nice parts of the city centre? Nearly all of the Southside city centre is lovely and you wont really see any of the things listed.

Freight bandit · 30-12-2021 1:40pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118390591#Comment_118390591

I had things to do on the North side, what's strange about the whole thing is , there's actually a pretty heavy police presence in the city but it seems to have gotten worse.

Dr Bob · 30-12-2021 1:42pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118389155#Comment_118389155

I mean Cork would be great if they could just convince all the Corkonians to leave and go somewhere else. :🤣

thefallingman · 30-12-2021 1:44pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118390604#Comment_118390604

the cops are useless, they just walk past the zombies dealing on the boardwalk, and they put their civilian tops on near the court house on parkgate street so they don't have to deal with any live crimes. But if you look like a nice easy stress free collar they'll approach you alright.

JimmyVik · 30-12-2021 1:46pm

I ordered an uber and look what turned up :)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ta7HVgFgfRM

30-12-2021 2:06pm

I'd rather drag my balls through glass, salt and mouse traps than live in Dublin again.

An I mean that.

SteM · 30-12-2021 2:14pm

I was in last Thursday for the first time in a year, my second trip in since March 2020. I would have been in 5 days a week up until that point for the last 26+ years.

Met a friend for a pint in O'Neills at around 3ish, we walked up Grafton Street and down to Baggott Street. Couldn't believe how bad the place looked, maybe it was always like that and I'm just seeing it with fresh eyes but I don't think so. There was a constant smell of weed along the streets that we wandered, beggars on almost every corner. Saw a bloke being arrested for what looked like pickpocketing. Maybe this is all normal in the city center around Christmas. Won't be hurrying back tbh.

Allinall · 30-12-2021 2:28pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118390723#Comment_118390723

Dublin is much better off without drama queens.

30-12-2021 2:48pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118390829#Comment_118390829

Probably be better off without the junkies, scumbags an ugly grey buildings as well.

John_Rambo · 30-12-2021 2:58pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118390568#Comment_118390568

So nothing happened to you?

Thelonious Monk · 30-12-2021 3:11pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118390953#Comment_118390953

Where do you live? These things are in every city in Ireland. Most of our towns and villages are hideous too.

Snails pace · 30-12-2021 3:31pm

I was up there a few weeks ago. Whatever about a few dreary buildings. I felt safe where I went.

30-12-2021 3:46pm

Rather Dublin than Stockholm OP.

Hamachi · 30-12-2021 4:09pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118391115#Comment_118391115

Where exactly is hideous? I’m struggling to think of anywhere in Ireland that’s truly hideous.

Dublin is perfectly fine for a capital city. Most towns and villages around the country are also totally fine, some more attractive than others of course, but there isn’t anywhere legitimately awful.

Thelonious Monk · 30-12-2021 4:31pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118391420#Comment_118391420

I agree but if you wanted to be negative, which people are in relation to Dublin, you could pick so many towns and villages in Ireland and talk about how ugly they are. There was a thread for years on Ireland's most depressing town.

Mister Vain · 30-12-2021 4:50pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118391007#Comment_118391007

The title of the thread is "Why is Dublin such a shítty city?" It's not "Why do bad things keep happening to me in Dublin?"

jj880 · 30-12-2021 4:51pm

Im not one for stunning architecture. I can deal with a town / city not being easy on the eye. If the vibe and the people are welcoming Im happy.

But if its like a ninja warrior course trying to avoid junkies, beggars and pick pockets Im not going back if I can help it.

Hamachi · 30-12-2021 4:57pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118391523#Comment_118391523

Got it. Yes, the negativity pile on in relation to Dublin is tiresome and entirely unjustified.

Having said that, I do feel like the city center has declined a little since the pandemic. Stephen’s Green, Merrion Square, Baggot Street etc.. are all still lovely. However, I feel like Westmoreland Street has become very dumpy. A lot of undesirable characters hanging around as you’re making your way home.

Hopefully, the city centre regains it’s luster when the pandemic recedes and more regular people are back socializing in town on a frequent basis.

John_Rambo · 30-12-2021 6:16pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118391604#Comment_118391604

But is that all you did, walk around looking at junkies and the Gardai doing their job? Did you go shopping, did you try any of the restaurants, what were they like? Did you wander in to any of the galleries or places of interest, even the GPO museum, did you look up at some of the amazing architecture in the city? Did you even go for a pint and a bowl of mussels? You're in the city centre, the epicentre of culture in the country.

Mister Vain · 30-12-2021 7:11pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118392033#Comment_118392033

It was another poster that mentioned the junkies and gardai. I was just pointing out that a person can observe a place without anything bad happening to them. I like a lot of the stuff you mentioned BTW. There are some great shops and restaurants. The galleries are decent too as I've already mentioned.

John_Rambo · 30-12-2021 7:26pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118392312#Comment_118392312

Sorry, I thought it was you that wandered around observing junkies and the Gardai. It was Freight Bandit.

corks finest · 30-12-2021 7:35pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058220383/why-is-dublin-such-a-sh%CE%B9tty-city

Too many Dubs obviously

vriesmays · 03-01-2022 2:57pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118378111#Comment_118378111

i bet you do. In the city centre next to €2k / month apartments.

corner of hells · 03-01-2022 4:39pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118410492#Comment_118410492

In Dublin , In Our Town.

JupiterKid · 03-01-2022 5:12pm

In Dublin city centre to meet a friend for late lunch yesterday and as I was waiting for the bus on Aston Quay to take me home, I saw three drug deals going down at the bus stop. Very blatant, open and no attempt to keep it discreet.

Dublin has serious social problems along with most other capital cities - poverty, inequality, drug abuse, crime, casual violence, inter-generational welfare dependency, anti-social behaviour etc. Unlike many other capital cities in Europe, however, the results of these social problems are very visible for all to see in Dublin city centre.

Since the Covid pandemic and the lockdowns, the lack of regular visitors to the city centre to shop etc has made these problems even more apparent.

In the week before Christmas, looking to post off a few final Xmas cards at a post office at about 2pm close to my place of work in the inner city, there was a big queue for welfare payments and no-one else apart from me seeming to be using the post office for actual....post. Two of the women queuing there were in their pyjamas.

I teach urban geography at university level and have a number of academic publications in this area so I think I know a little about the social geography of cities.

Dublin has always had deep seated social issues that are historical in origin - a century ago, the poverty and tenement slum conditions in the North and parts of the South inner city were so bad the city had a reputation along with Naples for having the worst slums in Europe. The programme of social housing provision between 1925 and 1990 eliminated these slums and housing and health conditions improved vastly for those rehoused, but the social problems and deep inequality remained and were not properly tackled.

Dublin essentially has historically always been a relatively poor city marked by very high levels of poverty. It is only in the past 30 or so years that the city has become an economic powerhouse on a global level thanks to the Celtic Tiger era. The city is still in many ways playing catch up with other capital cities that have been wealthy for centuries - it still lacks a Metro system which is a huge deficiency in terms of public transport.

As a child back in the 1980s I well remember rampant begging and anti-social behavior in the city centre. O’Connell Street and its vicinity back then was well on its way in its downward spiral. There may well be a strong bang of weed walking around the inner city these days - but back then every second man seemed to reek of drink.

If anything, after the drastic cutbacks to the social housing programme in the late 1980s and the gradual replacement of direct provision of social housing by the local authorities towards propping up a whole cohort of low-income households in a mercilessly squeezed private rented sector has been a recipe for disaster for Dublin - and a very wasteful and inefficient use of public exchequer revenue. This is an issue I and others have researched and pointed out in our work over the past 20 or so years - but it has largely fallen on deaf ears by the policy makers.

Combine the housing shortage with a homelessness crisis - along with a concentration of drug and alcohol “treatment” facilities in Dublin’s inner city, the magnetic pull of the capital to those with drug and life problems from elsewhere - and you have a recipe for the very visible problems we see in the city today.

The current FF/FG government simply don’t really care about the situation - theirs is a failed neo-liberal/Thatcherite economic ideology harking back to the callous “laissez faire” mindset in the 19th Century where the poor will stay poor - albeit these days supported cradle to grave by a generous welfare system - the middle class are gradually squeezed out of existence (lack of affordable long-term housing options being key here) - and the idea of renting in perpetuity to a REIT/vulture fund is seen as a “necessary evil” by those in power.

Dublin City Council is currently riddled with gross ineptitude and corruption - and City Manager Owen Keegan has shown us all his condescending, patronizing and frankly callous attitude to the severe housing shortage.

These problems will continue and worsen until a new government begins to actually heed the advice and recommendations of researchers and agencies working in the field to firefight these issues. Currently the prevailing attitude from on high is to willfully ignore the situation, make half-hearted gestures to be seen to do something, but in reality doing very little as the “Let Them Eat Cake” and “I’m All Right Jack” mentality prevails.

The governance of Dublin is chaotic and disjointed with four local authorities for the built-up city, another three beyond and an unelected Mayor with no real powers and an unelected and unaccountable City Manager. It is just not good enough and needs radical reform in order for Dublin to be managed and run porperly.

Spanish Eyes · 03-01-2022 5:50pm

Dublin City Managers should live within 1km of their workplace on Wood Quay. See the place in real time rather than on a powerpoint display of orgasmic cycle lane infrastructure. Things would change soon enough, but no.... they get free parking in a city that is awash with cars that the City Manager is actively discouraging, then they escape to the suburbs when the working day is over.

It is hard to believe that it took a pandemic to open DCC's eyes to the huge benefits of encouraging outdoor dining and socialising. Cork city is a very good example of how that should work, and were miles ahead of Dublin in making it a very popular success.

On a practical level -

Clean the streets, powerwash the filth regularly (meaning the residue of fast food, vomit etc. sticking to the streets)

Fix the pavements, many of which are infill tarred jobs and it looks so cheap and thrown together.

Open up Westmoreland Street by (sorry.....) cutting down the trees that make the street dark and gloomy. This was proposed as part of some powerpoint presentation a million years ago now, so get on with it.

Encourage outdoor events and socialising, even in Winter. Other cold European countries can do it, but oh no, not us!

Close drug treatment centres within 1k of the city centre. I know, I know where do they go? Somewhere will be found that is more suitable for the city. Imagine the SJWs didn't see ANYTHING wrong with an injection centre beside Christ Church, the Four Courts and a primary school. Thankfully that daft idea was knocked on the head, so there are some people with clout that have common sense.

Visible policing is improving. There is now a joint foot patrol operating between Store Street and Pearse Street stations. Long overdue. Up to that each station was an independent entity and could not even communicate with each other due to different radio bands or something like that. Honestly can you believe it?

There is a lot to like about Dublin. I love my city but don't like it much, if you get me. It will improve over time and we have to badger the people who make the decisions about the city constantly. I do.