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Do other first world countries suffer from "junkie/scumbag" problem that Ireland does

amandafrom97

My American friends who came a week ago say they are a bit disappointed with Dublin only as they say for a capital city, it looks like a "dump".

In b4 "Go to a third world country in Africa and quit complaining". I highly doubt that the slums of SA or Kenya should be the benchmark for Ireland's success. I think we need to get our priorities straight. It's great to have the marriage and abortion referendum, but we need a referendum to kick out the piss poor politicians who tolerate the crap that is the city's abhorrent state and the junkies that walk among us.

Interesting, do you think junkies are the result of our piss poor city or vice versa?

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Sonics2k

Your American friends have never left their houses if they think the US doesn't have a junkie problem.

All large cities in the first world have this problem.

jobbridge4life

I really don't understand people who make this kind of remark... I mean I honestly think they mustn't have ever travelled to other major cities.

Amsterdam, Brussels, Paris, Barcelona, London, Miami etc. etc. they all have problems with homelessness and addiction. It isn't remotely unique to Ireland, or Dublin.

arybvtcw0eolkf

I worked on the door of The Gypsy Rose on Aston Quay for seven years (it closed last Nov) and almost without exception tourists would mentioned the amount of junkies on the streets, and the price of a pint in Templebar.

I've never been anywhere, and I'm relatively well traveled which had the amount of open drug abuse as I've seen in Dublin.

seamus

Go to San Francisco.

Basically Mecca for homeless and junkies.

Dublin is paradise in comparison, you'll be yearning for the peace and quiet of Talbot St

MadYaker

They obviously weren’t from San Francisco

super_furry

Haha, your American friends either don't exist or come from Bel Air.

The Backwards Man

I suppose other cities hide them from the tourists better, Dublin gives them their own express commuter line to the city centre.

[Deleted User]

jobbridge4life wrote: »

I really don't understand people who make this kind of remark... I mean I honestly think they mustn't have ever travelled to other major cities.

Amsterdam, Brussels, Paris, Barcelona, London, Miami etc. etc. they all have problems with homelessness and addiction. It isn't remotely unique to Ireland, or Dublin.

100% this

land in to prague train station at midnight on a saturday sometime, thatll wake a fella up. was like a zombie movie.

dam square in amsterdam is a pit most hours of most days

birmingham, never felt as unsafe walking a street in a city centre

no population centre bigger than 10k ppl is without no-go zones/times

mloc123

MadYaker wrote: »

They obviously weren’t from San Francisco

American cities are bad but what makes Dublin unique is the number of junkies in the main center and tourist areas.

Even in SF they usually keep the tourist spots pretty clear of them. Market St and surrounding areas are bad but embarkadaro, fisherman's wharf, Chrissie field etc.. are not.

Same with Chicago, New York etc... Areas of which are much worse than Dublin... But the city centers and tourist areas are kept clear.

Everlong1

Report in this morning's papers stating that tourists now cite begging and steep prices as reasons they'd be reluctant to come back to Dublin.

No surprises there. And let's not forget the piece of vermin convicted this week of raping a Spanish tourist she met on the Boardwalk, which has been a haven for addicts and bag snatchers for years now. No surprises either that the scumbag in question has multiple previous convictions but was allowed to roam the streets until his latest act of savagery. How many more incidents like that will it take before we decide to get serious about thuggery in this country?

Grayson

seamus wrote: »

Go to San Francisco.

Basically Mecca for homeless and junkies.

Dublin is paradise in comparison, you'll be yearning for the peace and quiet of Talbot St

That was my first thought.
I was in SF last year and the level of homelessness is ridiculous. Plus they don't have any of the social services we have.

JohnnyFlash

There’s junkies in most cities. Our junkies look hideous though. Irish people tend to be grotesquely ugly, and injecting heroin doesn’t help either.

El Weirdo

amandafrom97 wrote: »

... but we need a referendum to kick out the piss poor politicians ...

Great idea! We could call it an "election".

Boom_Bap

Every big city has its problems.
Dublin in particular looks to be a bigger problem because the city is so condensed and everything is on top of each other.
Being able to buy gear openly on the main thoroughfare where nearly every bus from the airport arrives is a major part of the visual problem.

xabi

amandafrom97 wrote: »

Nevermind the streets, even in so called "posh" areas, you get a lot of knackerish people (coming in with 5 kids, screaming in intelligible accent) walking around and in the library. It particularly puts me off going there.

I probably should move up the ladder to a real posh area like Donnybrook where I can see posh women

Where is this posh area you speak of?

partyguinness

Jesus.... I work in a town in the West Midlands in the UK. In the car park where I park for work I see junkies every week. I step over needles, spoons and other such paraphernalia.

Sometimes you will see 2-3 junkies passed out. And that's just a random **** town with a population of 70k.

Your US buddies probably had this Maureen O'Hara esque false image of Ireland like something from a postcard.

Dr. Kenneth Noisewater

amandafrom97 wrote: »

Nevermind the streets, even in so called "posh" areas, you get a lot of knackerish people (coming in with 5 kids, screaming in intelligible accent) walking around and in the library. It particularly puts me off going there.

Funny that you mention the library, I was recently in the main public library in downtown Orlando. I’ve never felt unsafe in a library but I was happy to leave that one. Rammed with junkies and just generally dodgy looking feckers.

Phonehead

LOL, I suggest your American Friends should leave their gated community and travel around their own cities to really see social economic problems. Pretty much most cities in the USA have areas the size of an Irish city that are no go areas.

Das Reich

I think only Ireland and England have that amount of natives (white) created by social welfare. In other european countries they are mostly foreigners. In my country where whites are minority, usually (almost always) those jind of people are of colour. I did find very weird when arrived here the first time and saw homeless and junkies that were actually fully natives, I mean they vorn in such rich country with all their ancestrors geom thw country and they still poor, not understandable.

[Deleted User]

The Backwards Man wrote: »

I suppose other cities hide them from the tourists better, Dublin gives them their own express commuter line to the city centre.

With convenient stops at the Four Courts and St James's Hospital. God bless the Luas Red Line.

Potatoeman

Most capital cities push social housing outside the city center making them cleaner. They also put addiction clinics outside the city center too.

Hitman3000

amandafrom97 wrote:

My American friends who came a week ago say they are a bit disappointed with Dublin only as they say for a capital city, it looks like a "dump".

You American friends are idiots. My brother is a cop in L.A.. Now if you wish to pass on their details I will ask him to give them a 'ride along' so they can see what a true dump parts of L.A. are and to meet some of the delightful residents. Plus side is they don't even need their passports.

techdiver

I think a point is spectacularly missed by many posters on here. Yes we know many countries and cities have their anti-social/crime issues etc and that Ireland is by far an away one of the safest countries in the world, but, I have yet to travel to countries where the main thoroughfare is infested with drug addicts and scumbags/dealers the way Dublin is.

It's all fine and well saying - "Well go back to your own country etc", but that buries the head in the sand as to the issues facing Dublin as a city to both live in and a city to attract repeat tourism.

I've been to London, New York, Chicago, Vegas, Rome, Boston, Miami, etc etc and I have not seen such obvious social decay in the main tourist spots in those cities.

You can't compare a ride along with the LAPD in Compton to the main street in the Capital city of a country from a tourist point of view. That's shifting the goalposts and ignoring the crux of the issue.

murpho999

It's amazing how so many people on Boards have friends from abroad who point out Ireland's shortcomings to them.

Dublin's junkie problem is no worse than any other city, especially compared to an American one.

Also, did they not go around the Georgian quarter or hop on a Dart along the coast. Dublin is not just O'Connell Street?

jester77

Other cities manage it better, it's not something you can just eliminate.

I was living in Frankfurt around 20 years ago when they decided to tackle the problem there. At the time there was a big problem in the area around the main train station. In tackling the problem they made it worse as it just spread around the city. They realised their mistake, back tracked and created a zone where it would be tolerated and these people would not get punished. They also set up clinics in this area to help them and it was a much bigger success than their initial program.

So instead of trying to eliminate the problem, maybe it would be better to try and help these people instead.

Alun

In most European cities the back of the central train station, which are usually actually central, unlike here, tends to be where all the low-lifes congregate.

whisky_galore

JohnnyFlash wrote: »

There’s junkies in most cities. Our junkies look hideous though. Irish people tend to be grotesquely ugly, and injecting heroin doesn’t help either.

Generations of addiction, poor nutrition and possibly inbreeding.

SEPT 23 1989

no money to be made from a clean junkie free city

too many vested interests need their daily court appearances

dav3

Yes, just like Dublin, there are many major cities around the world that have a large number of people with alcohol and drug addiction problems.

Cina

Just section off Talbot St. from the rest of the city and we'll be grand.