Is Limerick Really THAT bad?

scojones · 15-01-2007 02:04PM

shane86 wrote:

Limerick has what, around 70,000 people and nearly 6000 serious offences.

The Dublin Garda area (which includes nearby areas like Maynooth afaik, its effectively the same boundary as the 01 phone region) has about 1.3 million, but only 7 times more serious crime? But about 15 times the population?

Dunno why Limerick folks get so excited when the crime is brought up. Its a rough place, and it seems to have an even bigger level of low down scum than other places (burning children, shooting children, gang wars sparked by schoolyard fights between kids, Dublin has its problems but kids are seldom involved)

IIRC wasnt there a case where a grandmother drove a car as her son commited a drive by? We Dubs just cant compare Yous is G`z

As of 2002, Limerick had a population of 183,863.
The city itself had 86,998.

Limerick 86,998
Newcastle West 4,017
Abbeyfeale 1,683
Rathkeale 1,362
Kilmallock 1,362
Castleconnell 1,343
Annacotty 1,342
Adare 1,102
Croom 1,056

http://www.medialive.ie/Counties/limerick.html

stovelid · 15-01-2007 02:10PM

We stay with my wife's mate quite often and she lives a few miles outside Limerick. The city IMO is a bit ugly but we've had some good nights out there and it certainly seems lively enough. As for the violence thing, I've never seen that much more than Dublin TBH.

Burning Eclipse · 15-01-2007 02:23PM

thelordofcheese wrote:

Also, if you go to UL, be prepared to love and hate it in almost equal amounts.

Why??

Anyways aside from that ambiguous comment...

I'm a big fan of UL. Been living in Castletroy for 5 years now, not a bad spot, and perfectly self contained. i.e., it has a cinema, superquinn and some decent restaurants, Indian, Chinese etc. The University itself is fantastic, beautiful campus too. Tonnes for people from Tralee and nearby towns up here also.

If your going to LIT, I lived in Caherdavin (10 min walk from moylish) for a summer and its fine, but I prefer the vibe in Castletroy. Oh, the doormen in general are a$$holes.

Go for it OP... you won't regret it*

*not a guarantee

Tar.Aldarion · 15-01-2007 02:42PM

nesf wrote:

No offense but after growing up in Tralee I'd say even the Darfur region wouldn't faze you.

Ah, great.
The rest of the thread seems pointless now.

cornbb · 15-01-2007 02:54PM

shane86 wrote:

The Dublin Garda area (which includes nearby areas like Maynooth afaik, its effectively the same boundary as the 01 phone region) has about 1.3 million, but only 7 times more serious crime? But about 15 times the population?

7 times more serious crime per head of population. That would give Dublin a ballpark number of 105 times more serious crime than Limerick in actual terms, according to the Garda figures quoted earlier. Yet I scared the sh*t out of numerous Dublin taxi drivers when I mentioned I lived in Limerick. Such ignorance boggles the mind.

Rb · 15-01-2007 05:27PM

cornbb wrote:

7 times more serious crime per head of population. That would give Dublin a ballpark number of 105 times more serious crime than Limerick in actual terms, according to the Garda figures quoted earlier. Yet I scared the sh*t out of numerous Dublin taxi drivers when I mentioned I lived in Limerick. Such ignorance boggles the mind.

Limerick's crime rate is for Limerick as a whole, including its peaceful countryside, not just the city. Considering the city is relatively small in comparison with Dublin, and that the majority of crimes would occur in the city, its nothing to really be proud of.

6000 serious offences in a population of (lets exclude the countryside) 87,000 is significant considering Dublin City has a population of 1.3Million and 44,000 serious crimes.

"In actual terms", realistically, theres 87,000 people in Limerick city and 6000 serious crimes committed but theres 1.3Million people in Dublin City and only 44,000 serious crimes committed. Also, given Dublins population we're obviously going to have more scum than any other county in Ireland.

I'm not saying Limericks amount of crime is huge, but its not small.

shane86 · 15-01-2007 05:35PM

rb_ie wrote:

Limerick's crime rate is for Limerick as a whole, including its peaceful countryside, not just the city. Considering the city is relatively small in comparison with Dublin, and that the majority of crimes would occur in the city, its nothing to really be proud of.

6000 serious offences in a population of (lets exclude the countryside) 87,000 is significant considering Dublin City has a population of 1.3Million and 44,000 serious crimes.

"In actual terms", realistically, theres 87,000 people in Limerick city and 6000 serious crimes committed but theres 1.3Million people in Dublin City and only 44,000 serious crimes committed. Also, given Dublins population we're obviously going to have more scum than any other county in Ireland.

I'm not saying Limericks amount of crime is huge, but its not small.

Exactly. Even if we assume only 3/4 of it occurs in the city and its surrounding area its still a very high rate. I think the main issue here is the brutality of the crime. Maybe Limerick doesnt have as many muggings, burglaries, small time stick ups etc as Dublin. One reason is that in Dublin these crimes are heavily influenced by heroin addiction. Until recently heroin was relatively rare in Limerick (though according to a report I read not long back its become massive in the last few months). Theres one reason why some crime rates come out as lower. But Id still be willing to bet that this year saw a disproportionate amount of gangland killings and non fatal shootings/arsons in the 80,000 people Limerick city area.

The small town everyone knows each other aspect would also influence the mugging rates. Two guys mug someone in Dublin city centre, the guy could be from Tallaght and the muggers from Blanch. Never see each other again. Limerick city centre mugging- the muggers could be from Moyross, the victim could be from the neighbouring estate and before you know it the muggers have the family to answer to. Totally different situations and cities. From my memory what, about 3 or 4 gangland murders in Limerick this year? You dont get people from Coolock and Drimnagh/Crumlin pretending their areas havent suffered a rash of feud killings, so why Limerick?

Patricide · 15-01-2007 06:08PM

randylonghorn wrote:

OP, I've don't think Limerick is half as bad as it's made out to be. That said, if the same course is available in Galway you might want to think about it. Uni is central, city is laid back and easy-going, craic is good. A bit further from home for you, though.

And forget about travelling by train from Tralee to either Limerick or Galway, it's just a pain in the ass.

Nah the same course isnt in tralee, but if it was i wouldnt stay anyway i mean my house is literally 10 feet from the I.T. and tbh itd crack me up being so close to home.

Plus tralee is a scum infested knacker land, i mean have you heard everything thats happened here recently, a guy got stabbed with a 15 " butcher knife in the square on a busy saturday night and it didnt even make the front page of the paper a few weeks back, prolly cause the guy was only injured but still its nuts. Then there was that massive fight between around 20 knackers and 20 polish people in the square, again on a saturday night. That was nuts.

The course i wanna do is the new batchelour of arts joint honours degree in UL, if not that then Music Media And Performance technology in UL or Music technology and production in L.I.T .

And does anyone know why getting the train to limerick is such a balls cause ive only heard that its a pain in the arse but noone ever tells me why. I know the train to gallways a pain cause you gotta go to dublin first but with limerick im Stumped.

Rb · 15-01-2007 06:16PM

shane86 wrote:

Exactly. Even if we assume only 3/4 of it occurs in the city and its surrounding area its still a very high rate. I think the main issue here is the brutality of the crime. Maybe Limerick doesnt have as many muggings, burglaries, small time stick ups etc as Dublin. One reason is that in Dublin these crimes are heavily influenced by heroin addiction. Until recently heroin was relatively rare in Limerick (though according to a report I read not long back its become massive in the last few months). Theres one reason why some crime rates come out as lower. But Id still be willing to bet that this year saw a disproportionate amount of gangland killings and non fatal shootings/arsons in the 80,000 people Limerick city area.

The small town everyone knows each other aspect would also influence the mugging rates. Two guys mug someone in Dublin city centre, the guy could be from Tallaght and the muggers from Blanch. Never see each other again. Limerick city centre mugging- the muggers could be from Moyross, the victim could be from the neighbouring estate and before you know it the muggers have the family to answer to. Totally different situations and cities. From my memory what, about 3 or 4 gangland murders in Limerick this year? You dont get people from Coolock and Drimnagh/Crumlin pretending their areas havent suffered a rash of feud killings, so why Limerick?

Even giving 1/4 of the crime to the countryside is generous.

Looking at it this way, say on average a crime affects 2 innocent people, it could be more I don't know but for the example we'll use two.
In Limerick, there was 6000 crimes which for the example we'll say affected 12,000 people. In a city where there is only 80,000 people, thats about 1/6th of its population affected by crime each year. That is significant.
Dublin has 44,000 crimes, so in this example those crimes affected 88,000 people. We've a population of 1.3Million people so that means around 1/14th of our population are affected by crime each year.

Though, even comparing Limerick to Dublin is quite silly.

cornbb · 15-01-2007 06:20PM

Patricide wrote:

The course i wanna do is the new batchelour of arts joint honours degree in UL, if not that then Music Media And Performance technology in UL or Music technology and production in L.I.T .

And does anyone know why getting the train to limerick is such a balls cause ive only heard that its a pain in the arse but noone ever tells me why. I know the train to gallways a pain cause you gotta go to dublin first but with limerick im Stumped.

I did the MSc equivalent of the MMPT course, twas pretty cool. Know a guy teaching the new undergraduate course, he says its wicked. Regarding getting the train from Tralee to Limerick, the fact that you need to first go through counties Cork and Tipp (and probably change at Mallow and Limerick Junction) probably why its a pain in the hole.

cornbb · 15-01-2007 06:29PM

rb_ie wrote:

Even giving 1/4 of the crime to the countryside is generous.

Looking at it this way, say on average a crime affects 2 innocent people, it could be more I don't know but for the example we'll use two.
In Limerick, there was 6000 crimes which for the example we'll say affected 12,000 people. In a city where there is only 80,000 people, thats about 1/6th of its population affected by crime each year. That is significant.
Dublin has 44,000 crimes, so in this example those crimes affected 88,000 people. We've a population of 1.3Million people so that means around 1/14th of our population are affected by crime each year.

Though, even comparing Limerick to Dublin is quite silly.

Guys, can you not just accept hard facts instead of concocting silly conjecture? The crime figures speak louder than "lets say such and such..." Pretty much everyone on this thread who has actually lived in Limerick has been positive about the place. Nobody is denying the place has a crime problem, but don't you think Limerick's rep is a bit unfair given that Dublin has much higher rates of every type of crime?

scojones · 15-01-2007 06:36PM

I have been out in Limerick several hundred times and I have never seen any trouble while I was there. If you ask me, Shannon can be rougher than Limerick. One of my work mates got his nose broken in Limerick over the Christmas period when he was walking to get a taxi just out side Brown Thomas. Another of my work mates got put in hospital with a broken nose and a very bad concusion (sp?) just outside the Heineken brewery in Dublin.

Rb · 15-01-2007 06:48PM

cornbb wrote:

Guys, can you not just accept hard facts instead of concocting silly conjecture? The crime figures speak louder than "lets say such and such..." Pretty much everyone on this thread who has actually lived in Limerick has been positive about the place. Nobody is denying the place has a crime problem, but don't you think Limerick's rep is a bit unfair given that Dublin has much higher rates of every type of crime?

You can't even compare Limerick to Dublin. Limericks misicule in comparison.

BUT, with my above example, if the crime rates stay fixed and providing noone affected by crime one year is affected the next, every 6 years everyone living in Limerick city would be affected by crime whereas in Dublin it would be every 14 years. I know which I'd rather live in

The facts stay though, in a place with 80,000 people 6000 serious crimes were committed (maybe 500 or so were committed in the countryside though). In another place with 1.3Million people, 44,000 serious crimes were committed. Dublin happens to be the capital city, it has active criminal organisations such as various mafias, professional gangs such as the UNLA(iirc) and until recently, though probably still are, the IRA, we've a huge amount more drug addicts committing crime to get their fixes, given the population we've a lot more scumbags on our streets etc. We've a huge amount more organisations such as banks, building societies, even newsagents/general stores etc. for criminals to target. Comparing Limerick to Dublin is silly and pointless, we're a massive European capital. It'd be like comparing some town at the back arse of nowhere in the states to New York. That said, I'd be happier living in a place with 1,300,000 people and only 44,000 crimes per year than a place with 80,000 people and 6000 crimes.

Limerick city has 1/16th the population of Dublin, but 1/7th the amount of crime.

cornbb · 15-01-2007 06:59PM

rb_ie wrote:

You can't even compare Limerick to Dublin. Limericks misicule in comparison.

BUT, with my above example, if the crime rates stay fixed and providing noone affected by crime one year is affected the next, every 6 years everyone living in Limerick city would be affected by crime whereas in Dublin it would be every 14 years. I know which I'd rather live in

The facts stay though, in a place with 80,000 people 6000 serious crimes were committed (maybe 500 or so were committed in the countryside though). In another place with 1.3Million people, 44,000 serious crimes were committed. Dublin happens to be the capital city, it has active criminal organisations such as various mafias, professional gangs such as the UNLA(iirc) and until recently, though probably still are, the IRA, we've a huge amount more drug addicts committing crime to get their fixes, given the population we've a lot more scumbags on our streets etc. We've a huge amount more organisations such as banks, building societies, even newsagents/general stores etc. for criminals to target. Comparing Limerick to Dublin is silly and pointless, we're a massive European capital. It'd be like comparing some town at the back arse of nowhere in the states to New York. That said, I'd be happier living in a place with 1,300,000 people and only 44,000 crimes per year than a place with 80,000 people and 6000 crimes.

Limerick city has 1/16th the population of Dublin, but 1/7th the amount of crime.

Limerick's crime rate is 1/7th times that of Dublin's, PER HEAD OF POPULATION.

(That's been posted twice before in bold tags, but bold tags sometime just aren't enough.) Now, read that twice, get your calculator out if you need to, then come back and tell me you're still convinced Limerick is a more dangerous place than Dublin.

Rb · 15-01-2007 07:08PM

cornbb wrote:

Limerick's crime rate is 1/7th times that of Dublin's, PER HEAD OF POPULATION.

(That's been posted twice before in bold tags, but bold tags sometime just aren't enough.) Now, read that twice, get your calculator out if you need to, then come back and tell me you're still convinced Limerick is a more dangerous place than Dublin.

I've already posted my argument on the matter, makes sense to me tbh and to others reading it.

If Limerick city somehow grew to the population and size of Dublin overnight and its crime rate grew in proportion to its population(i.e the population increased x 16 and the amount of crime increased x 16), there'd be over twice the amount of crimes in Limerick as there would in Dublin. Similarly, if Dublin somehow shrunk in size and population to the size of Limerick (/16) with its amount of crime shrinking in proportion (/16), it would have less than half the amount of crime.

My example wasn't silly or conjured up either, its quite realistic but based on an average number of people affected by a crime that I took at random. If it were 3 people per crime on average, that'd be 18,000 of the 80,000 people in Limerick City affected by crime per year.

You can keep using your "defence" on the matter if you want, convince yourself all you like but I know where my mind lays on the matter. The facts have spoken for themselves and unless you want to bring a new argument into the matter, I've said all that I'm going to say to you on the matter.

1/16th the amount of people, 1/7th the amount of crime and again, Limerick shouldn't even be compared to Dublin. Its silly.

Clodidah · 15-01-2007 07:30PM

rb ie have you ever lived in limerick? Beacause the question was is it 'actually' that bad.. i think they were asking people whove leaved here. Quoting statistics isnt going to help because it obviously depends on the area your in and the people you hang around with. I have lived here all my life ( and not in one of the scobey areas) ive been going into on my own since i was 12 and have never had any problems. Also i have no problems walking around in the city centre in the dark and wouldnt consider Limerick as a place of particular violence at all.

Rb · 15-01-2007 07:32PM

Clodidah wrote:

I have lived here all my life

Location: Clare

Then why do you have Clare as your location, eh?Ashamed?

Clodidah · 15-01-2007 07:50PM

Live on the boarder not ashamed bout anything.

iguana · 15-01-2007 07:51PM

rb_ie wrote:

I've already posted my argument on the matter, makes sense to me tbh and to others reading it.

Shane86 wrote:

Limerick has what, around 70,000 people and nearly 6000 serious offences.

The Dublin Garda area (which includes nearby areas like Maynooth afaik, its effectively the same boundary as the 01 phone region) has about 1.3 million, but only 7 times more serious crime? But about 15 times the population?

Read my post again. The figures posted are the amount of crimes for every 100,000 people in the region. So that is 5,717 serious crimes in Limerick for every 100,000 people. And 44,991 serious crimes in Dublin for every 100,000 people.

If by rb_ie's reckoning Dublin has 16 times the population of Limerick, which it doesn't - but 16 is the figure he chose. Then there are 719,856 crimes in Dublin for every 5,717 crimes in Limerick. Or 125 serious crimes in Dublin for every 1 in Limerick. I assume you are not claiming that Limerick's population is more the 125 times less than that of Dublin's.

Limerick had, in 2005, 7 & 1/2 less serious crimes than Dublin, PER HEAD OF POPULATION. Ignoring the fact the crimes are already put in by head of population and then making a ratio out of the ratio make you both look like people who pick and choose the facts you want to see rather than the actual facts. Which sums up exactly why Limerick has such a bad reputation in the first place.:rolleyes:

Rb · 15-01-2007 07:53PM

Clodidah wrote:

Live on the boarder not ashamed bout anything.

Um hmm, sure

Clodidah · 15-01-2007 08:02PM

You never answerd me, have you ever lived in limerick?

Rb · 15-01-2007 08:04PM

Clodidah wrote:

You never answerd me, have you ever lived in limerick?

I stayed the night there a few times, surely that counts towards something.

Oh btw, I really doubt that Limerick natives are going to bad mouth the place to any great extent, of course they're going to make the place seem as good as they can.

Clodidah · 15-01-2007 08:08PM

It really really dosnt, ive stayed the night in dublin before but i wouldnt even think about saying that counted towards living there.

Clodidah · 15-01-2007 08:08PM

It really really dosnt, ive stayed the night in dublin before but i wouldnt even think about saying that counted towards living there.

bill_ashmount · 15-01-2007 08:19PM

rb_ie wrote:

Comparing Limerick to Dublin is silly and pointless, we're a massive European capital.

lol, yes of course ye are. :rolleyes:

Collie D · 15-01-2007 08:26PM

Wouldn't get too worked up about rb_ie to be honest, he makes the same sweeping generalisations about parts of Dublin he's read about or passed once on a bus.

Rb · 15-01-2007 08:34PM

bill_ashmount wrote:

lol, yes of course ye are. :rolleyes:

Lol, jealous much?

Collie D wrote:

Wouldn't get too worked up about rb_ie to be honest, he makes the same sweeping generalisations about parts of Dublin he's read about or passed once on a bus.

Sorry if I've called your area shít or something in the past Collie D, I have a habit of saying what I'm thinking. If I've been somewhere and I think its a run down shít hole, then I'll say its a run down shít hole. Force of habit I guess.

However, theres not many places I've been that I'd call a run down shít hole.

randylonghorn · 15-01-2007 08:40PM

randylonghorn wrote:

OP, I've don't think Limerick is half as bad as it's made out to be. That said, if the same course is available in Galway you might want to think about it. Uni is central, city is laid back and easy-going, craic is good. A bit further from home for you, though.

And forget about travelling by train from Tralee to either Limerick or Galway, it's just a pain in the ass.

Patricide wrote:

Nah the same course isnt in tralee, but if it was i wouldnt stay anyway i mean my house is literally 10 feet from the I.T. and tbh itd crack me up being so close to home.

....

The course i wanna do is the new batchelour of arts joint honours degree in UL, if not that then Music Media And Performance technology in UL or Music technology and production in L.I.T .

And does anyone know why getting the train to limerick is such a balls cause ive only heard that its a pain in the arse but noone ever tells me why. I know the train to gallways a pain cause you gotta go to dublin first but with limerick im Stumped.

OP, we seem to have crossed lines there, I was talking about Galway, not Tralee! That said, I'm not sure they have much in the music line, but they would certainly have plenty of choices in arts / humanities.

Because our rail system is centred on our "massive European capital", Dublin, with very few cross-country links, and because the Kerry service is abysmal anyway, from Tralee to Limerick means going from Tralee to Killarney to Mallow to Limerick Junction to Limerick, with anything up to 2 changes! A bus will make it in ... what ... an hour and a half? Expect to be most of the day on the train.

Galway would be even worse by train, though you should be able to change in Portarlington, rather than going all the way into Dublin ... still would be much easier (and cheaper) by bus. Nestors and other private bus companies run student services from major towns to / from the various colleges on Friday evenings / Sunday evenings.

iguana · 15-01-2007 10:09PM

rb_ie wrote:

Lol, jealous much?

Sorry rb, but Dublin is far from a "massive European capital." It's certainly bigger than Limerick, and has lots of great things going for it. I've lived there for quite a few years and it's where my husband is from. But when you've lived in an actual massive European capital you'll realise that Dublin, while the biggest city in Ireland, is actually a pretty small city on a worldwide scale. Dublin proper (that is Dublin and not the areas of surrounding counties which have been usurped by the city) has a population of little over half a million. Definitely not my definition of a big city.

London, Paris, Berlin and Madrid are massive European capitals. I live in London, own a little piece of it in fact. And London is a proper massive city, it absolutely buzzes. You could live here your whole life and never get to know it all. It has, most importantly - imo, a working public transport system. Which, despite the amount of bitching I might do about it when my tube is delayed, moves 4.7 million people everyday.

I like Dublin, and it is probably about as small a city that I would like to live in. But it's public transport system is a joke, which makes anyone living in any area further than a two mile radius from the city centre dependant on their cars or taxis to get around, especially at night. It has also pushed house prices into unreasonable figures as the demand for homes in walking distance to the city is way higher than it would be in a city with a decent 24 hour public transport system.

Dublin is what I'd think of as a local city. It has a lot of things that bigger cities have, great places to eat with lots of variety, lots of lovely pubs, some good clubs. But it's the kind of city that you can never go into without meeting someone you know. Not neccesarily a bad thing, but not what you get in a massive city. There is no space for anonymity, I can't imaging sitting next to a famous person on a bus and having everyone continue reading their metro.

Patricide · 15-01-2007 10:21PM

Yup mabey so, i was trying to address a good few comments at once but i quoted yours for some reason. Bah its all good anyway ive found out loads about limerick and that it really isnt that bad.

Also found out that rb.ie is really anti limerick.

Anyone know what the wifi on campus is like, i cant survive without a decent internet connection.

Is Limerick Really THAT bad?

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