Free For All!

s1ippy · 07-07-2020 1:33am #1

Just watching Batman trilogy for nostalgia this evening and with the craziness of the last four, nearly five months I've been thinking a lot about the insane year Cork has had. We're like Gotham city. I'm sure people are always thinking like that when they compile all the mad incidents that go down in their town but this year has decidedly raised the bar in my estimation.

Some of the frontrunners for absolutely flipping sh!t on its head so far have been:

- Nasty virus going around (although that's a global issue, I know)
- Toddler Santina Crawley senselessly murdered by her father's girlfriend on Boreenmanna Road (yesterday last year)
- Douglas SC getting nearly burned down by a lady driving in with smoking car bonnet whose engine then exploded
- Dismembered body of Frankie Dunne tragically found on Boreenmanna Road (very bad year for that road), seemingly because he owed a eastern European guy who worked in the [redacted] €80 for poitín
- Hammer attacks on young people by the cinema in Blackpool
- Horrific stabbing to death of student Cameron Blair on Barrack Street
- Timmy Hourihan's tent set on fire as he slept by the Mardyke, poor guy was so lovely and he died in that incident
- Storm Ataiya, Cameron, Dennis wrecking the place and incredibly high winds other random nights
- Mallow checkpoint lad who had drugs in the car driving at a garda and getting shot during lockdown
- 82 year old woman just recently, suffering a broken shoulder as a lad on a bike snatched her handbag outside Merchant's Quay
- Mount Oval youths pucking the the heads off each other the other week
- Recent incident that must not be mentioned in Carrigaline
- Machetes slashing lads at football training in Wilton this week
- Some tool going on a high speed chase and shooting at gards with a pellet gun at the weekend

Have I missed anything? Have we entered the Twilight Zone?

Eduard Khil · 07-07-2020 1:39am

Leader of The Free State being from Cork

The_Kew_Tour · 07-07-2020 10:53pm

Cork used see be great City.

So glad I decided enough is enough and moved out of it. Best thing I ever did.

Each to their own though. These types of attacks are happening all over, they just seem be more accepted now.

Frostybrew · 08-07-2020 5:22am

I know "there's no such thing as bad publicity" but surely a cinema attacking it's own customers with hammers is not going to be good for business.

whisky_galore · 08-07-2020 8:58am

Those storms and that virus, someone should do something. Write to your TD.

s1ippy · 10-07-2020 6:53pm

Add "Covid" parties in Cork student gafs.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uU0LtldJLA0

No word on the news about all the GAA clubs in Cork that have had to cancel training because of suspected cases though.

Found a cool channel where they do audio recordings from a night's emergency responders and simulate the action on a video game!!!

Should have said it's based in Cork.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TaD-iUDxCWc

theglobe · 10-07-2020 8:41pm

The_Kew_Tour wrote: »

Cork used see be great City.

So glad I decided enough is enough and moved out of it. Best thing I ever did.

Each to their own though. These types of attacks are happening all over, they just seem be more accepted now.

Where do you live now?

zilog_jones · 13-07-2020 9:15am

s1ippy wrote: »

- Douglas SC getting nearly burned down by a lady driving in with smoking car bonnet whose engine then exploded

The rumours that they drove in with the car smoking are false, and there is a known fault with that model of car (Opel Zafira

where the fan blower resistor pack can fail and catch fire, i.e. it was an electrical fire, not the engine, not an explosion.

I suspect some of your other descriptions are also less than accurate. Rumours and sensationalist nonsense aren't going to do this city any favours.

Cork Trucker · 13-07-2020 9:38am

The shopping centre have dismissed that the car was already on fire prior to entering the car park. What’s says publicly she privately are two different things, but I’m sure they know what happened by now with all their investigations, cctv etc. How many shops other than Tesco, Marks & Spencer will reopen is going to be interesting.

LessOutragePlz · 13-07-2020 9:58am

No city in the world is going to be perfect, us Irish love a good moan and focusing on the negative aspect of things.

Cork city has plenty of positive things going for it and they far outweigh the negatives.

s1ippy · 13-07-2020 2:22pm

I don't doubt that the hearsay that goes around will be dubious. Aren't we even allowed to mention the incidents lest they besmirch the good name of the place?

Tbh if it keeps the city from getting even more overcrowded I say definitely raise awareness of the fact that it's no garden of Eden. I absolutely love Cork and living here, btw. I travel widely all over the world in normal circumstances, but to me, Cork is home and there's nowhere else that would do.

Developments on the murder of Francis Dunne over the weekend, which is great news. The rumour mill had it that the person who did it was long gone out of the country but that was very much unfounded.
https://twitter.com/CorkSafetyAlert/status/1282659166427975680?s=19

smurgen · 13-07-2020 11:28pm

Was in the city over the weekend and I must say there's a definite change in how it feels now. It seems like a free for all with drug addicts and alcoholics. Seem two incidents Saturday in broad daylight that looked violent.

Straight Talker · 13-07-2020 11:58pm

smurgen wrote: »

Was in the city over the weekend and I must say there's a definite change in how it feels now. It seems like a free for all with drug addicts and alcoholics. Seem two incidents Saturday in broad daylight that looked violent.

I was reading about an incident in Galway, where two guys were attacked in Eyre Square in broad daylight. This was about 1 30pm, and by all accounts it seemed to be an unprovoked attack. So everywhere has it's issues. That doesn't make what's happening in Cork ok though. And going by your post, it seems the new dedicated garda unit, to deal with drug related crime in town, is not making much of a difference.

wally1990 · 14-07-2020 12:07am

Walked through North main street for the first time in a long long time

, christ, it is absolutely an awful looking spot now,

very run down

, the top half is brutal from the casino/slots shop down to the hardware store

, the bottom half isn't much better

.red. · 14-07-2020 11:32am

Straight Talker wrote: »

it seems the new dedicated garda unit, to deal with drug related crime in town, is not making much of a difference.

Stopping, searching and arresting a heroin addict is too dangerous, and too much work, which then leads to robberies and trouble as they're left alone by the authorities.
It's far easier to stop young lads and do them for very small quantities of cannabis. It's still a drugs bust for the stats, newspapers and Facebook groups to drool over. It looks good, even if it's making almost zero difference on the streets.

To be fair, the unit has had some very good busts, notably a good few arrests for knives, cocaine and heroin so it is making a difference. Just not enough of a difference as they seem focused on the easy stats, instead of the important ones.

rob316 · 14-07-2020 1:37pm

I see more and more people approached for money and they are handing it over. It must be intimidating for them, I don't even acknowledge when I'm asked I just walk on.
"Sorry bud do ya have €2 for the bus"

The city isn't policed, most of us saw frontline gaurds on the beat for the first time in a while during the lockdown.

Still its far from the worst and alot of the incidents the OP mentioned above are regular occurences in most cities.

rob316 · 14-07-2020 1:38pm

wally1990 wrote: »

Walked through North main street for the first time in a long long time

, christ, it is absolutely an awful looking spot now,

very run down

, the top half is brutal from the casino/slots shop down to the hardware store

, the bottom half isn't much better

Place should be bulldozed to the ground, its an absolute eyesore. Dunnes leaving that street but the final nail in it.

leahyl · 14-07-2020 2:05pm

rob316 wrote: »

Place should be bulldozed to the ground, its an absolute eyesore. Dunnes leaving that street but the final nail in it.

Are there any plans to rejuvenate that area? They seem to just be leaving it go to dogs and are concentrating on McCurtain Street.

beer enigma · 14-07-2020 9:11pm

rob316 wrote: »

Place should be bulldozed to the ground, its an absolute eyesore. Dunnes leaving that street but the final nail in it.

There are a lot of very old Cork buildings there that need to be looked after rather than bulldozed.

Jeepers, let's just knock down the street and build it up with glass and concrete donut shops. NOT

it was public petition that saved the two buildings near castle Street.

Straight Talker · 14-07-2020 10:44pm

rob316 wrote: »

I see more and more people approached for money and they are handing it over. It must be intimidating for them, I don't even acknowledge when I'm asked I just walk on.
"Sorry bud do ya have €2 for the bus"

The city isn't policed, most of us saw frontline gaurds on the beat for the first time in a while during the lockdown.

Still its far from the worst and alot of the incidents the OP mentioned above are regular occurences in most cities.

I think the spate of violent crime in the city, within the past year has been unprecedented. There always has been crime in Cork, but we have seemed to have reached the bottom of the barrel this past year. I agree that the city is far from the worst, but the difference between the city now compared to 10 to 15, or even as recently as 6 years ago is pretty jarring.

I ignore these people as well, but it must be very intimidating for women and the elderly etc. Cork has a lot of positives, it's a great city overall, but at the moment the city centre is overrun with junkies and winos. You say that things aren't that bad, well they aren't that great either.

corks finest · 14-07-2020 10:47pm

LessOutragePlz wrote: »

No city in the world is going to be perfect, us Irish love a good moan and focusing on the negative aspect of things.

Cork city has plenty of positive things going for it and they far outweigh the negatives.

Correct bud

igCorcaigh · 14-07-2020 11:02pm

Straight Talker wrote: »

I think the spate of violent crime in the city, within the past year has been unprecedented. There always has been crime in Cork, but we have seemed to have reached the bottom of the barrel this past year. I agree that the city is far from the worst, but the difference between the city now compared to 10 to 15, or even as recently as 6 years ago is pretty jarring.

I ignore these people as well, but it must be very intimidating for women and the elderly etc. Cork has a lot of positives, it's a great city overall, but at the moment the city centre is overrun with junkies and winos. You say that things aren't that bad, well they aren't that great either.

Most of the winos are sound. Difficult lives, but harmless. I remember around 10 years ago a lot of the new types came in from Dublin and places, some of them were nasty.

Big heroin problem now, totally due to bad government policy if you ask me, but I have no idea how either of these cohorts contribute to the crime problem we have.

rob316 · 15-07-2020 10:36am

igCorcaigh wrote: »

Most of the winos are sound. Difficult lives, but harmless. I remember around 10 years ago a lot of the new types came in from Dublin and places, some of them were nasty.

Big heroin problem now, totally due to bad government policy if you ask me, but I have no idea how either of these cohorts contribute to the crime problem we have.

Ya there just pests, out of their heads and fairly harmless. Ya I had an issue with a dublin junkie years ago, to be fair there isn't much strength in a junkie, I shoved him and he went down in a heap.

Voltairey · 06-08-2020 3:11am

I went out for a walk in the early evening and instead of going around the estates like I usually do, i decided I had the energy to venture further than usual so I went into town for the first time since probably October.

The place was extremely creepy and unsettling. There were a lot of people just staggering around the place. I can't walk very fast due to an injury, but I didn't want to be talking to people for too long either and I was approached four times for change in less than half an hour.

On the lane off Paul Street an elderly man unexpectedly grabbed me very roughly and started yanking me by the shoulder. I was absolutely panicked and he was really hurting me so I screamed for help, whereupon he ran away. Nobody was around to see it and I called a relative to collect me. The whole experience was awful and I won't be going back in there in a hurry. It was like a ghetto or Mad Max or something, not a garda to be seen.

TheChizler · 06-08-2020 11:15am

Voltairey wrote: »

There were a lot of people just staggering around the place. I can't walk very fast due to an injury

You weren't catching your reflection in a window by any chance?

I don't doubt your experience but I'd walk through town every couple of weeks for the last few years and have never had anything like the experience you described. I certainly noticed more winos over lockdown but only because they had nowhere else to go and there were so few other people in town.

whisky_galore · 06-08-2020 1:21pm

Was checking my phone waiting for someone and this oul codger wino asks for spare change.
I ignored him. Then he asks a second time and gives me a shoulder, then I told him to fûck off for himself.

corks finest · 06-08-2020 5:07pm

whisky_galore wrote: »

Was checking my phone waiting for someone and this oul codger wino asks for spare change.
I ignored him. Then he asks a second time and gives me a shoulder, then I told him to fûck off for himself.

Yes it's gone to ****

corks finest · 06-08-2020 5:12pm

rob316 wrote: »

I see more and more people approached for money and they are handing it over. It must be intimidating for them, I don't even acknowledge when I'm asked I just walk on.
"Sorry bud do ya have €2 for the bus"

The city isn't policed, most of us saw frontline gaurds on the beat for the first time in a while during the lockdown.

Still its far from the worst and alot of the incidents the OP mentioned above are regular occurences in most cities.

Cork is gone to hell from what it was,last Monday week early, before 10 on the morning, Pana was practically lined with junkies/ tappers from Roche's stores to start of merchants quay, one aggressive bastard roaring at a female junkie sprawled on the ground, not a lawman in sight, I walked back up to check the chsrityshoos on N main street ,,,, not a pretty sight ,ore of the same, didn't see one Garda in 40 minutes

pwurple · 06-08-2020 5:12pm

s1ippy wrote: »

Developments on the murder of Francis Dunne over the weekend, which is great news. The rumour mill had it that the person who did it was long gone out of the country but that was very much unfounded.
https://twitter.com/CorkSafetyAlert/status/1282659166427975680?s=19

You've jumped to a few conclusions there. The person arrested was about the circumstances where the suspect absconded, afaik. Considering who it was, it would be a much much bigger story otherwise.

whisky_galore · 06-08-2020 7:01pm

corks finest wrote: »

Yes it's gone to ****

He was so small and pathetic he wasn't worth giving a slap to. He'd definitely come off second best. One of these days he's going to have a puck off the wrong dude.

PreCocious · 06-08-2020 7:16pm

There must be two towns.

I was in there in Sunday and there was a fine buzz, quite busy as well.

We'd often head in early evening for a stroll around (change of scenery) and haven't seen any serious issues. Certainly not the widescale zombie apocalypse reported by others.

Sometimes I wonder is the "Cork is Bad" vibe just an overreaction similar to the message "Cork is Closed" that was put out when a street was closed for three hours each day.

Errashareesh · 10-08-2020 8:13pm

I know all the individual incidents listed by the OP are horrendous, but I've lived in or close to Cork city nearly my whole life and I just don't see the world being described here (which reads like a Mad Max alike hellscape). Overall it's an exceptionally safe city.

j8wk2feszrnpao · 11-08-2020 8:55am

Errashareesh wrote: »

I know all the individual incidents listed by the OP are horrendous, but I've lived in or close to Cork city nearly my whole life and I just don't see the world being described here (which reads like a Mad Max alike hellscape). Overall it's an exceptionally safe city.

Some people go looking for the worse aspects of life/cities/people. By just about any standard, Cork is a safe city.

pwurple · 12-08-2020 9:04am

munstermagic11 wrote: »

Some people go looking for the worse aspects of life/cities/people. By just about any standard, Cork is a safe city.

I agree Cork is pretty safe. But it's easy to dismiss people's experience if it's never happened to you. Bear in mind you can have a completely different experience based on who you are and what you look like.

The more of an easy target you look like, or maybe likely to have cash, the more you get hassle in my experience, and that's often completely out of your control. You can't make yourself taller or broader generally.

I'm an average height , average build white woman... nothing bar my gender that would mark me as a target there, but for example, when I was visibly pregnant with a bump, FAR more people hassling me for money. Same if I have a baby or a small child with me. Maybe mothers are seen as soft touches, or more easily intimidated, I don't know, but it's bloody annoying.

On my own, if I'm dressed up (like I might have money for a night out), way more likely to be hassled than if I'm in runners zipping around doing my business. I've never had hassle if I'm walking around with another adult, and my husband has never once been asked for money in town in his whole life, but he's fairly scary looking :pac:

j8wk2feszrnpao · 12-08-2020 8:36pm

pwurple wrote: »

I agree Cork is pretty safe. But it's easy to dismiss people's experience if it's never happened to you. Bear in mind you can have a completely different experience based on who you are and what you look like.

Myself and a friend were attacked physically in the city center a number of years back. We were out for a few pints, they were out for a fight. My friend had to go to CUH because of it.
We still meet up (until COVID hit) in the city. I go with my family there. I’m not dismissing anyones experience, but Cork is a safe city by just about any standard.

Errashareesh · 13-08-2020 12:02am

I don't think people's individual experiences are being dismissed (anyone who thinks those such incidents would never occur in an urban area is foolish) - just the assessment of Cork as a whole becoming like Detroit. Someone said they're glad they got out - of what? A small city with a relatively low crime rate? It seems very melodramatic.

s1ippy · 30-08-2020 5:39pm

So this is incredibly tragic. Two lads from North Cork found dead this weekend, both coincidentally in places with Eagle in the name, 84km apart.

This lad was found dead outside a house in Eagle Valley. A criminal investigation is ongoing.
https://www.irishexaminer.com/news/munster/arid-40039817.html

While those infamous scenes in Killarney town unfolded, this Cork fella was discovered five minutes away, outside the Gleneagle Hotel.
https://www.irishtimes.com/news/crime-and-law/investigation-into-unexplained-death-of-young-man-in-killarney-1.4342166

A lot of young Cork lads have been killed and died before their time this year.

deeperlearning · 31-08-2020 8:10pm

Quite a number of people stopped taking their meds during lockdown. It is understandable in a way as they were too anxious to collect. The mental health implications could have a much greater impact than covid in the long term.

pwurple · 01-09-2020 12:40pm

Errashareesh wrote: »

I don't think people's individual experiences are being dismissed (anyone who thinks those such incidents would never occur in an urban area is foolish) - just the assessment of Cork as a whole becoming like Detroit. Someone said they're glad they got out - of what? A small city with a relatively low crime rate? It seems very melodramatic.

Maybe you missed what I quoted, as it was clearly dismissive.

Some people go looking for the worse aspects of life/cities/people.

It's also entirely subjective.
Like I said already, I personally think Cork is fairly safe. however, I've nothing bar my own experience to base that on, the last validated crime statistics for Cork city are from when... 2018, 2017?

There's an aggregate site here, where Cork has a fairly mixed review..
https://www.numbeo.com/crime/in/Cork

There are "under resevervation" CSO data tables available here, but they bundle the whole "south" region:

https://statbank.cso.ie/px/pxeirestat/Database/Eirestat/Recorded%20Crime/Recorded%20Crime_statbank.asp?sp=Recorded%20Crime&Planguage=0&ProductID=DB_CJ

A couple of numbers for the first 3 months of 2020

Rape 139 (up 10%)
Homicide 2 (same-ish, sub 5)
Murder 1 (same-ish sub 5)
Attempted murder 3 (same-ish sub 5)
Assault causing hard 195 (down from 270 Q4 2019, which is typical. the xmas period shoots this up always)
Burglary 649 (sameish, which is unusual, usually this drops in Q1 each year)
Aggravated burglary 18 (Up from 12)

We can wait for the 2020 Q2 / Q3 data to come out...

Errashareesh · 02-09-2020 12:14pm

I'm not sure it's "entirely" subjective. You'd think you were reading about Detroit, Baltimore, Philadelphia or southside Chicago.

Crime has gone up obviously. Still doesn't make some of the posts here any less hysterical.

j8wk2feszrnpao · 02-09-2020 1:37pm

Errashareesh wrote: »

I'm not sure it's "entirely" subjective. You'd think you were reading about Detroit, Baltimore, Philadelphia or southside Chicago.

Crime has gone up obviously. Still doesn't make some of the posts here any less hysterical.

Apparently we're like Gotham City according to the OP ..... without Batman of course.

the beer revolu · 02-09-2020 2:28pm

munstermagic11 wrote: »

Apparently we're like Gotham City according to the OP ..... without Batman of course.

And anyone who doesn't agree is, no doubt, "part of the problem"!, biased, or in denial.

The last thread was closed due to people being arsy.

s1ippy · 05-09-2020 9:19pm

I'm fine with disagreement. Just thought I'd put a thread up based on my own observations. I'm not not alone in my experience, because there are lots of others on the thread who have noticed similar things. Everyone is hysterical these days according to unimaginative boards.ie users. I was surprised to read the stats for the first part of the year because things only got slightly worse. I guess the media magnified the incidents more, so there seemed like there were more of them. It will be interesting to make comparison with last year's Q2, especially considering our movements were restricted for a lot of it.

Errashareesh · 05-09-2020 11:46pm

I'm not denying that these developments are very negative, I just think some of the comparisons are over the top/lacking perspective.

deeperlearning · 06-09-2020 6:38pm

Over the top/lacking perspective is putting it kindly.

TheChizler · 07-09-2020 8:25am

In yesterday, town was packed, definitely noticed a few more who might be described as junkies than I would have before, I guess I had this thread in mind, but didn't see anyone being bothered by them. Very pleasant atmosphere in general.

the beer revolu · 07-09-2020 12:01pm

TheChizler wrote: »

In yesterday, town was packed, definitely noticed a few more who might be described as junkies than I would have before, I guess I had this thread in mind, but didn't see anyone being bothered by them. Very pleasant atmosphere in general.

Yes, Sundays, generally, seem very busy in the centre with families, at the moment. Great to see.

PreCocious · 07-09-2020 12:10pm

pwurple wrote: »

There's an aggregate site here, where Cork has a fairly mixed review..
https://www.numbeo.com/crime/in/Cork

That Numbeo site is worse than useless. It's based on self-selection responses to a survey on the website.

Free For All!

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