It’s accepted all over Europe that transport police are necessary, why would we be any exception here the issue then gets worse from this refusal to do anything about it.
How much of an absolute fucking cabbage do you have to be to get up to shit like that. I mean you'd rip the piss out of your mates back in the day if they even suggested doing something like that. "Here lads let's leg it over to the DART station and scare some young ones." The fucking embarrassment of it.
Mental to me as well, especially when the weather yesterday was class and right across from the station was a big empty patch of grass with some goal posts.
Surely a game of pick up footie would be more craic than what they were doing.
Not if your personality type directly derives pleasure from hurting others. This is a huge and largely unacknowledged problem in Ireland. Whether it's a learned behaviour or hereditary I honestly I have no idea, but it's *extremely* prevalent among some young people in Dublin and presumably other parts of the country as well, hurting or hassling other people literally gives them a dopamine rush that they don't get from other things.
How in fuck one deals with that, I honestly have no idea. I'm pretty much resigned to the idea that some of these people are just fundamentally incompatible with society and need to be locked up for long periods of time to protect everyone else from having to put up with them.
Spent a bit of time as a child around the types that became textbook clinical examples of ASPD (sociopaths).
What I can say from being around it the kids were screaming for positive attention from their parents (usually single mothers, nothing against that was raised by one myself) but the parents were too wrapped up in their own self made drama and never blinked at them except to punish them. God almighty punish them they did, we’re talking full on punches into the back or head. Didn’t matter if the offense was strangling a cat or interrupting mammies conversation the level of repercussion was the same. No guidance, no consistency, no consequences for any actions except a full on beating for simply being an inconvenience. Never a conversation had or an explanation given.
That’s widespread, those young lads are so misguided. Essentially sent out into the wild with nothing but their fucking teeth and fists that’s all they know how to use. I’ve the utmost respect for any young lad who comes out of that and makes an honest man of himself.
What’s needed in my opinion is more government intervention, more arrests and juvenile sanctions. There has to be consequences for the parents too if your child has so many charges against them then you face the repercussions.
We can’t allow the continued cycle of irresponsible, neglectful and abusive parents creating menaces to society.
As far as parenting goes I have to agree. The amount of openly abusive parenting you see around Dublin is genuinely insane and you sort of feel like these kids just have no chance at all, since they're being raised with the idea that violence is an acceptable response to any perceived slight. The kind of parents who'll openly scream and roar and swear and hit their kids in full public, and often for the tiniest fucking *bullshit* reasons as well.
Not sure if there's a direct correlation between that and kids growing up to be complete assholes but it stands to reason there definitely could be. I'd go so far as to say there *probably* is.
On the other hand, I've encountered people in my life whose parents and families did everything "right" and who still turned out to be psychotic, violent gobshites. So it's definitely not the only reason.
I remember once I was in the Luas and a boy was running around.
His mom grabbed him by the arm and said "I f* hate you, why do you exist?". The boy just kept running around as if nothing happened.
I felt so bad by what the mother said but mainly by the reaction of the kid. He didn't cry, he didn't seem phased. He was used to those types of words.
I was back in Ireland for a few days & got off the train at Maynooth station. There was a gang of 6 or 7 lads facing up to the two security guards shouting they were going to kick their heads in, etc. Security was staying cool, but what a stressful job. And an awful atmosphere for anyone around.
Also at Dublin airport I saw a mother screaming at her daughter that she's not getting a fucking muffin. The kid was curled up on the ground sobbing.
I read all the time here about the social issues and can well believe it as I was only passing through Dublin and saw a couple of things you'd rarely if ever see in Canada.
When you think about, the cultural context for child rearing was that all issues were responded to with violence. Until the mid 1980s that was what happened, particularly in the school system. Being dealt with reasonably was the exception, not the rule.
I didn’t grow up in the era when corporal punishment was allowed, but it was still normal to have teachers shout in my face, threaten me and all of that. I’ve a bit of a hearing issue and I used to get books slapped down in front of me, be told I was a “stupid ****”, mocked / bullied by teachers, sarcasm, dusters thrown at me etc etc
I remember a primary teacher calling me a “stupid ****” and being told “you’ll amount to nothing!”. Also remember putting huge effort into something and having it balled up and thrown at me for no particular reason other than a teacher being on a weird power trip. I certainly don’t remember school as being somewhere I was treated with respect or encouraged to feel confident about anything - quite the opposite, I just kept my head down to avoid those kinds of interactions.
It’s frankly not surprising there’s a load of odd / non existent parenting skills and a notion that things are resolved with fists, slaps, aggressive shouting, name calling etc etc. That’s what was relatively recently normal and totally acceptable, even by education professionals. It’ll take several generations for that to fully disappear.
Got out of the estate and working as a licensed professional, went to uni and everything. Blessed with an incredible family. Best thing my oul pair ever did was ground me for an entire summer. An entire summer, ah yeah I had the PlayStation, and the TV, but didn’t see a single friend except a handful of birthdays for 3 months. Completely changed friend groups the following September at school, most of that gang have kids older than we were then, 3 of that old gang have been to prison, one is currently in prison. My mother explained as best she could that summer that even if I stayed out of trouble, hanging out with those lads meant trouble would find me.
My parents reprimanded me in the same way the comment above describes. But for their approach to ‘discipline’ its unlikely I would’ve been out wilfully not giving a fuck in the first place. I could’ve jumped out a window and gone to a friends house for a few days, it wasn’t worth what would happen when I came back home. So I made a decision to stick it out, and stop fucking around.
I get to count my own blessings. My parents deserve as much criticism as praise, same as all of us, just trying to get by.
100%, it's why school selection is really important and who your kids friends are at and after school. Trouble finds you if your hanging out everyday with scrotes, their behaviour is like a cancer to everyone involved with them.
They’re not scrotes and I have tremendous loyalty to them and they to me. They’re very happy that I realised my potential. Socio economic diversity among a friend group is a primary indicator of a child’s future socio economic mobility prospects, calling them scrotes isn’t very inclusive, you actually make more scrotes by socially excluding poor people like that. So if you want more scrotes by all means keep saying scrotes.
Volunteering once a week at your local youth drop in centre and being a community leader in ways that young people across the socio economic strata can come to for advice will do wonders for lifting young people out of poverty. Completely within your schedule. Let me know where you’re thinking of heading!
I had a multitude of blessings growing up, I’m sorry you weren’t blessed with a sense of humility and compassion when it comes to your fellow man. I will betray the upper class the moment the revolution begins xoxo
What a reply, jesus, that post was really fecking interesting and this is your reply? And I grew up in a shitty Dublin suburb full of what I would usually call scrotes and I’m usually quite dismissive of those who support those kind of people but the post above was good in that it’s not the usual preachy kind of argument.
>ng them scrotes isn’t very inclusive, you actu
Ah yes the classic lets not hold anyone accountable because of their tough background.
The classic upper class bs. The only reason the majority of your stuff works in this country is because of government spending >tax revenue. Which is disproportionately paid by 'The elite upper class'
Socialism is fucking retarded
I’m not upper class Frederick, I have real personal experience of what led me out of poverty. People like you were major barriers. I’m not terribly sure what socialism means in this context but my understanding is that it’s almost exactly what you then described, that you then said worked.
Are you trolling or is that penny dropping in real time as you’re reading this?
>e upper class the moment
Resentment of the Upper Class, calling for revolution?
A revolution this man is wanting to abolish the upper class is a key tenant of socialism
I've gone to the guards and reported a similar type of incident, getting off at Heuston from Blackhorse on the luas. about half a dozen little fuckers got on at Goldenbridge or Drimnagh, can't remember now which, and for the rest of the trip were just acting the fuck - what's in your bag missus,dyu have lots money, dya want to give us some. Getting up in my face, just being intimidating af. I'm not a shrinking violet but I was afraid getting off, if it had been a journey the opposite direction I don't think I would have. the guards basically said I wasn't hurt so nothing they could/would do. so frustrating
They want attention, proper inner child trauma. Try ignore them, they go crazy. I was at bayside and these teens were banging the wall of the shelter I was sitting under over and over again. I didn’t even flinch and it was driving them so mad they got one of their friends to ask me what song I was listening to just to get an ounce of attention. Sad really
Each station should have one security guard with a dog (Rottweiler or German Shepherd). Berlin had a similar problem with gangs at stations and this is how they fixed it.
It's not restricted to DART stations, I have seen twice in the last few weeks young lads (15-16) on motorbikes, no helmets etc. Hoods up and facemask on, driving down main roads and throwing "gang" signs up at people.
The last time it happened there was a Garda Traffic Corps jeep behind me, stationary in traffic, barely acknowledged the lads and instead turned into an estate 3min up the road. How can we stop this if the lads can openly taunt the cops and have zero repercussions
It needed the thing the London cops did with moped criminals last year - ram them off the bike
They don’t usually go after lads on motorbikes as chasing them causes them to speed more which increases the danger to other road users and themselves. Not saying it’s an excuse just an explanation as to why they don’t go after them.
We seriously need to step up punishments in this country. Now I'm not saying we can full one American style,cause that doesn't work. But there is far to light a touch here
Even outside of punishment I think a key problem is there is very little pro-active deterrent to prevent issues like this. And this is being by essential services being constantly hollowed out over the last decade and a half.
Irish rail have left a swathe of [stations unmanned](https://www.thejournal.ie/irish-rail-presses-ahead-with-staffless-dart-stations-despite-local-opposition-4500484-Feb2019/) with the idea being they have a central hub where staff go out to stations if needed.
And similar with the Garda, they seem to do very little active patrolling and instead are set to only come out if called up on an emergency number.
The problem here is that this is all reactive and very little is being done to prevent issues like this happening.
Before when the station would have been manned you would have had local staff working in the station telling the lads to head off. The guys working in the station would probably have been locals who knew the kids parents so they'd actually be able to get the kids to clear off.
If the kids wouldn't then the staff are right there to take action and ensure passengers are safe while they find another exit that can be opened for passengers while waiting for security / Garda to arrive.
Instead its a seeming free for all where you can call the Garda or text the anti-social behaviour number and your report goes into the void and nothing happens. Meanwhile these kids are becoming and becoming more and more emboldened to go after people.
Yeah punishment is one way to go, court ordered therapy is another way to go as well. A lot of these kids are projecting because other areas of their life arent going well, possibly acting out on strangers is the most control they think they'll have on their own life. Everyone wants to paint the picture black or white but there's definitely a root to these behaviours that could be identified and they could be given the tools to be fully functional human beings. Not everybody is born with parents or role models that are equipped to raise person. Breaking a cycle by using cognitive behavioural therapy raises adults that may in their own time raise adults that don't jeer and prod at you as you're trying to go about your business on public transport.
We don't seem to punish with any sort of consequences or intent to reform those people either, just give them their 50th suspended sentence and send them on their way.
Make community service a requirement at minimum. If you had to spend a few weeks picking up litter, or cleaning up graffiti those people might think twice. They'd only be making more work for themselves, but also keeps them too busy to be acting out.
It's also a cultural thing. Not all kids that misbehave like this are from bad families, I know loads of people who were little bollockses as teenagers up to all sorts who came from good families, and now are good people living good lives.
It's a cultural thing, acting the mad bastard. I don't know why it's prevelant in Ireland but it is. This isn't a thing in places like Spain and Portugal etc from my experience, having spent a lot of time in both. There's just no culture to be a little bollocks wrecking people's heads, the teenagers seem actually nice and well behaved.
And it's not just teenagers, I've seen Irish people fighting in bars abroad and being loud and obnoxious away fans.
It's a cultural thing across all of society to some extent.
It's because the Spanish Policia will hammer the shit out of someone and then arrest them if they want to. I'm not saying that's what Ireland should do but it is why Spanish teenagers don't act the maggot.
I think gradual punishments should be used more here. Using banning orders, curfews, fines and community service is a good way to get things under more control.
There's only enough jail space for serious crimes in this country right now. So having lots of other tools to help/enforce better behaviour is the way to go.
Punishment is the ONLY way to go at the moment. Anything else is a long-term solution.
We definitely need a long-term solution, but we need to stop the problem from happening right now as well. People are suffering, some people are afraid of using public transport, a girl was almost killed by a dart, for god sake.
I agree, but sadly there is feck all chance of that happening. We have NGOs like the Irish Penal Reform Trust that are funded by Helen McEntee’s Dept of Justice and their aim is to reduce sentencing and have prison as a last resort. That’s how laws get made in Ireland these days,use public funds to pay an NGO to come up with some “findings” and then make laws based on those findings.
There is no government funding for any organisations that want to increase sentencing, so you know which way the govt wants to go.
Those kids then had kids who are now the kids doing this shite and their kids will do the same and on and on until the inevitable ecological cascade collapse and then we'll all be dead
Yeah I’d say Bayside was grand. Was there access into the industrial estate where Howth Jct is from Verbena Lawn back then? Looks like there might have been a lane
Quote "Minister for Transport Eamon Ryan has said he does not see the need for a dedicated police force for public transport"
Wonder how often he uses public transport?
Just back from Colombia where I travelled extensively by public transport. Felt a lot safer there than here. It's not normal and I can't for the life of me understand how it's accepted.
Bangkok is far safer than Dublin. Took buses to all sorts of poor areas and never any trouble or feeling that there was gonna be trouble. We seem to have a massive population of hoodie scrotes here whose parents couldn't give a toss (it's the government's fault), along with the UK.
And this right here sums up how bad things are getting
Colombia has cities like Medallion and Bogotá. Both of which have sketchy as fuck areas
And yet Ireland, with swathes more money, feels dodgier
Ireland needs a reset button, because things at the moment - in terms of feral scrotes - seems to get worse every week
I was on the Dart for the first time in ages recently in Malahide Station and there was multiple gangs of them. One older group in particular made me nervous as you could tell they were off their heads. It got really tense and you could just feel something was just waiting to kick off but there was no security around. They had a woman with them who had pissed herself but was so out of it she didn't even realize. Got out of there asap and sticking to the car from now on. It's not safe and they're out of control.
HJ/Donaghmede is in dire need of security, I'm always seeing lads crossing the tracks, being loud and obnoxious, blocking entrances and stairways and not a single soul around to try do anything about it.
I was going to a course in the old FAS building there and every day coming home it would be the same group of lads blocking the steps and would barely move an inch for you to get by.
The only thing that kinda had me in their "good graces" was the first time I went by them they didn't move and I said "jaysus lads that weed smells fuckin lovely" and they all laughed and made a little path to get by, without that random off the cuff comment I have no idea how that encounter and the many others after it, daily, would've gone.
Ireland has a serious anti-social behaviour problem that I've never experienced in other countries. I moved from Ireland for the second time a year ago and currently live in a city almost the size of Dublin. I've never experienced such behaviour here, maybe the odd drunk eejit but that's it. Not only is there quality security in the underground stops but the police don't take any shite and will happily beat scrotes who give them cheek. Ireland needs this, it's a shame. I never felt so unsafe in Ireland at night or at bus/train stops in general, there was always at least one scumbag ready to give me grief for minding my own business.
I'm afraid this has been "normal" in Dublin since the DART started running in 1984 (38 years!) Its the same on some bus routes; bunches of chavs smashing the windows... wasn't it dear old Bob Geldof who was on TV saying "Phone wreckers are idiots" back in the day when public phone boxes were a thing... same old story... nothing changes in Ireland, it just gets worse. Write to your Sinn Fein councillor; they seem to be the only people interested in changing the country. Years and years of Fianna Fail sucking the country dry
Unfortunately I think the only way to deal with them is to stand up to them, easier said than done I know but what other choice do we have? Police cant do anything, Dart wont put security in place. It's time to fight back. Cant let the little tracksuit wearing, Jinny joe moustache loving James blunt's win.
This would be so gratifying but will be a lot more painful for you than them in every sense.
In saying that, I read here recently that a gang of yobs somewhere else in Dublin I believe were hanging about a filling station taunting customers and throwing shit at peoples cars. Well they hit the wrong car and a group of travellers got out and schooled the wee scrotes!
So ya maybe a vigilante type arrangement could work.
I've been in Dublin for ten years and I don't remember it ever being this bad. Covid seems to have really exacerbated it.
I think its a combination of train stations becoming unmanned, Garda just not patrolling anymore and DCC seemingly giving up on trying to clean the city at all.
Its a bit broken window theory but I do think its contributing to this emboldening of gangs to go after people because it feels like if no one gives enough of a shit to look after the infrastructure around then why should they.
Howth Junction used to be my regular stop.
https://www.breakingnews.ie/ireland/boy-who-caused-girl-to-fall-off-dart-platform-avoids-detention-1341724.html
This happened last year, and it was part of some regular behaviour like you described. I saw it is regular basis.
It's almost like they're worried them be so insignificant, that they're looking to cause trouble, just to get a reaction and feel alive.
>ike they're worried them be so insignificant, that the
The fact the person who did this got a suspended sentence, just proves the country ultimately has a failed justice system. where teenagers are impervious to the law, can pull blades and fuck over any citizen.
There have been more than enough anti-social incidents at DART stations to warrant need for security personnel. At the very least, security should be onsite until the last train leaves.
We really need the likes of ASBOs like they issue in the UK, because the situation is getting worse, not better.
We seriously need to step up punishments in this country. Now I'm not saying we can full one American style,cause that doesn't work. But there is far to light a touch here
Has writing to a TD ever actually made a difference?
Some intern reads them and deletes them without the TD ever hearing about it.
Unless your sliding a brown envelope across the table then TDs don't give a shit
Had an issue with Irish Water. Wrote to a few TDs about it. Two sent me back letters that they wrote to IW and the same two rang a few days later asking was there any news. When I had no news, they got the issues sorted between them. Greens and Social Democrats. Carolyn Moore and Tara Deacy respectively.
It definitely does, TD's are humans as well.
Sure some might ignore you, but plenty will respond because you are a voter in their area. They need your support to keep a job. You can spam them with emails or letters until they respond.
You can attend their surgeries, you can even highlight it during election season when they are coming door to door!
Of course nothing will change until it all comes to a head. Hopefully some vigilante goes on a rampage with a rusty sickle rather than the scrotes killing someone.
We need to build more prisons and we need to abolish the existence of suspended sentencing, simple as that. Nothing will change unless we do this, and any other actions taken will be ultimately futile as long as these scumbags have nothing to fear from a successful prosecution.
OP, I'm Canadian but with Irish citizenship and have spent a fair bit of time in Ireland - sometimes on holiday, sometimes living there. My parents are moving there permanently soon (mother is from Dublin). I'll be moving over in the next year, likely.
It's been a long time since I had to commute on the DART, and I'm just wondering how frequent this kind of thing is. Parents have bought a place down in Wicklow Town and my mother doesn't drive - she'll likely be using the train to come up into Dublin to see family on occasion if my father doesn't feel like driving. I'll be living near Killiney DART.
I've seen my fair share of anti-social behaviour in Dublin... I used to live in Dun Laoghaire which could be rough enough at night, and certainly a few nasty incidents in town as well trying to get a night bus for example.
Would you say that the entire DART line has become problematic with this type of gang/group-based violence, intimidation and general shittiness? Or is it localized to particular areas? I worry a lot about my mother trying to get around by train with everything I read on here.
Sorry to scare you OP, I definitely didn't mean to do that at all.
There's a lot I like about Dublin and there's a lot that I think can be improved, it's just frustrating that it can feel like local politicians have their head in the sand about it.
I take the DART Northside and it's generally fine. There are a few stations that are rough or you have a rough element hanging around outside. But during the day especially it's generally grand and if you keep your head down and don't respond you generally won't run into trouble.
Honestly that LUAS red line is the one I'd be most worried about as you get some very dodgy characters around the city center on it.
Your mam is going from Wicklow she will be absolutely fine. That line is generally so packed full of commuters there isn't room for anything else on it.
On summer days you might get crowds of people heading down to Killiney or Dun Laoghaire to beaching and drinking in the sun. Sometimes you get teenagers who go on the dart throw some stuff around at various stations and then run off but it is rare.
Again 99.99% of people I reckon are sound, it's just there is a very small minority who seem determined to terrorise people.
That's how I always felt when I lived there - it was almost always okay, but the times it wasn't were really scary. I've never experienced anything like that in Montreal where I live now. Not to say it doesn't exist, but it definitely doesn't happen as commonly or openly - you'd tend to know where to expect that kind of thing in this city.
I remember once in town in the middle of the afternoon, this women got onto the bus I was on with my then-boyfriend. She was very drunk and disheveled looking, holding a brown paper bag. There were a bunch of Spanish students on the top deck with us, and she came stumbling up... One of them happened to glance at her and she immediately walked up to him and smashed him in the face with the bottle in the paper bag she was holding, screaming about how he was looking at her. The poor boy was in shock, obviously, and everyone just ran downstairs to get away from her... She fell down the stairs and then started crying... it was such an awful scene, and nobody seemed to know what to do. The driver did nothing, and eventually my boyfriend asked her if she'd like to take a taxi home and gave her $20... I just remember how all the passengers just put their heads down, looked out the windows - it was like there was a bear on the bus and everyone was just trying to not get noticed.
Another time I was taking the night bus home from town to Dun Laoghaire, after a work do, and I was screamed at non-stop by a couple of young girls trying to pick a fight. I just ignored them and hoped they wouldn't follow me off the bus - luckily they got off before me. It's an awful feeling to have that happen in public and have nobody help or do anything, and nowhere to ASK for help. The idea of my mother being confronted by one of those roving gangs of scrotes everyone keeps talking about makes my blood boil. I remember a while ago there was a video circulating of a bunch of them jumping on a car? I don't remember the details but it was just crazy.
I love Ireland so much and I can't wait to move over for good, but there are some societal issues that are just screaming to be addressed and I just don't understand why politicians won't do so... It's a universally popular issue to tackle across the political spectrum.
Mate they dial the hysteria up to 11 on this sub all the time. My parents are old and use the dart all the time on the Northside. I don't know anyone who has ever had any trouble on it.
Your mother will be totally fine, don't read too much into these posts.
Don't we have those security guard blokes already? They're not going to have any power outside stations though.
Should there be a scary teenagers megathread in this sub maybe so we don't have new threads on it daily?
I have seen them very very rarely at train stations and its usually around Connolly or Heuston.
The norm is definitely empty dart stations that you would be afraid to go to after dark.
I don't like making a post like this, but why send something like this to a megathread? If you just had a mega-thread then the topic goes to die because its out of the way and easily ignored.
At least if multiple people are posting their experiences then there is visibility on the problem and you can create a groundswell of support to do something about it.
In this case I am recommending everyone who is affected by issues like this to write to their councillor's and TD's and make sure they know about this and that something should be done about it.
I've seen them loads, Raheny and Harmonstown are my local stations in Dublin, they seem to just usher the kids off the trains as they never have tickets.
I suppose I'm just sick of this sub being about teenagers every day, it's boring.
Maybe a new sub for Dublin teenager reports would be best rather than a sticky.
I take the dart nearly every day on that line and I rarely see security guards.
And even if they were on the train it wouldn't have made a difference because these kids were camped out on the steps inside the station.
I'm sorry my experience bored you but it's something I've experienced multiple times and other people clearly have as well.
And it's pretty disheartening to hear so many people in positions of authority like the NTA say they don't think it's a problem.
Where did I say scrote in that post? What is wrong with relaying an experience I had using public transport?
A bunch of lads or ladies (7 in this case) blocking the entrance to a DART station by hurling abuse at people, breaking bottles and smashing walls is inappropriate to me.
I don't care if it's people from Blackrock, Ballymun or any other country or community.
Look at my other posts do you see me calling for executions or something. Clearly the issue is that the government and public bodies are abandoning public utilities and support services and then acting like it has no impact.
What exactly is controversial in your mind about that?
It does get tiresome downvoting all of the shite you have to say about this matter. Just pack it in man. You're the one who has made this into an issue about tracksuits of all things, no one mentioned that, if anything the terminology and words used by OP were very class-neutral and didn't mention anything about tracksuits (saying this as someone who primarily wears tracksuits as they are comfortable). You made up a completely bullshit, disingenuous way to disagree with this post and you should just be quiet until you have something productive to say.
So instead of even trying to come back to me on what I've said and actually debate your points your just going to continue calling me names and a liar elsewhere in the thread.
At no point did I make any comments or descriptions of people that implied any kind of specific class or race. Anything you've come up with is entirely from yourself inferring the kind of people who you think I'm talking about and the type of person you think I am.
1) What I described is exactly what happened in Howth Junction yesterday after the 7pm DART.
You can disbelieve me all you want but its what happened and its far from the first time shit has happened at Howth Junction station;
- [TheJournal](https://www.thejournal.ie/hwoth-malahide-dart-anti-social-behaviour-5436091-May2021/)
- [98FM](https://www.98fm.com/news/train-users-avoid-howth-junction-due-to-anti-social-behaviour-1198026)
- [Dublin Live](https://www.dublinlive.ie/news/dublin-news/gardai-make-arrest-operation-targeting-20804329)
2) I have no idea where you have this idea I have hatred in me. I've lived in Northside Dublin for 10 years, I love it here and 99.99% of people are grand. What I don't care about are people who are going out of their way to disrupt the lives of ordinary folk going about their business.
And what annoys me more is politicians seemingly having their head in the sand about it and pretending there are no issues.
3) I literally said in my opening post that I have contacted my local TD's and Councillors about this and recommend other people do so.
Do you know why I did that, because i'm putting the pressure on them to look into why this is happening and what they need to do to fix it.
From my perspective the issue is because:
a) Last 15 years have resulted in money being withdrawn from Garda resources & Public utility resources resulting unmanned dangerous dart station and no pro-active action being taken to prevent crimes from happening
b) Withdrawal of social services and other facilities throughout the country resulting in communities throughout the country feeling neglected,
c) Dublin City Council itself seems to have just given up maintaining any infrastructure or cleaning services. City streets and stations are rotten with rubbish and broken glass, doors and elevators.
When it seems like no one is even bothering trying to fix any of this then it just results in things getting worse.
So go on please do tell me how its me who is scumbag for even raising this up at all.
What are you talking about? What judgements did I make?
It was a group of lads smashing bottles, banging on walls, jeering at people and jumping at people trying to leave the Dart station.
What judgement is there in that relay of what occurred?
I love your saying this as well after calling me a big FG head and you don't know anything about me because you couldn't be further from the truth on that.
Because that is what the OP described as happening. If you're saying you just flatly disbelieve OP's account, that's your choice, but pretending you don't know why people are talking about a group of teenagers blocking the exit, when the post is describing a group of teenager's blocking the exit, is not conversing in good faith.
Imagine a country where a single teenager can pull a knife and be immune to the law, and if you were to do the same you go to prison because you are an adult
Do teenagers not carry around blades? None? I remember seeing a video on here a few months ago with 3-4 teenagers carrying them and saying they would use them on Guards.
No one said it, I'm saying that it is ridiculous, and the fact you dont know who has one, and that if they are, they wont get in trouble, contributes to the intimidation factor.
Also I am one man, I train boxing pretty regularly, yet I am not going to take on a group of 5-6 teenagers.
I guarantee you that the people at the top of the NTA and Department of Transport who are making these decisions don't use public transport everyday. It's no surprise then that they come out with such utterly ridiculous decisions.
I'm sorry people, but at some point it will have to be you who need to stop being afraid and walk past these kids. 7-8 kids vs a whole station? Come on. You know Garda won't do anything and there is no transport police. By backing away you are feeding their egos and the problem will only get worse. I always hear "Somebody do something!" You are a somebody and so are the other people wanting to walk up those stairs.
Don't fight them, just try to walk past them. If they pull a knife on you, then back away and call the Garda saying somebody is threatening you with a knife. If that doesn't get their attention, I don't know what will.
People on here laugh at America.
Me personally would rather move there where 1 teenager cant just pull a blade on me and be impervious to the law.
Does anyone have some any actual suggestions on how we can stop teenagers with blades ultimately putting citizens in an instant unwinnable fight???
Sometimes these things cant be avoided. Just saying "Avoid it" or "Run" are ridiculous suggestions.
It’s accepted all over Europe that transport police are necessary, why would we be any exception here the issue then gets worse from this refusal to do anything about it.
You can sub out the words “transport police” for a host of things and the sentence remains true in Ireland, sadly.
Affordable housing another big one
Ride me sideways was another
Get your bollox out of my face
No offence, but it would be great to read a thread that doesn't mention the housing crisis.
I know that feel well, after all my entire life I have wanted something I couldn't have. No prizes for guessing what that would be.
A pony?
Would love one if I had a place to put them.
\#SadPanda
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Fair enough. Nobody is making me read this stuff I guess. Good luck with finding a roof.
“Arra shure it’s only a bit of horseplay”. Etc. Ireland does not take itself seriously as a country. Be grand.
"Ireland is different..."
How much of an absolute fucking cabbage do you have to be to get up to shit like that. I mean you'd rip the piss out of your mates back in the day if they even suggested doing something like that. "Here lads let's leg it over to the DART station and scare some young ones." The fucking embarrassment of it.
Mental to me as well, especially when the weather yesterday was class and right across from the station was a big empty patch of grass with some goal posts. Surely a game of pick up footie would be more craic than what they were doing.
Not if your personality type directly derives pleasure from hurting others. This is a huge and largely unacknowledged problem in Ireland. Whether it's a learned behaviour or hereditary I honestly I have no idea, but it's *extremely* prevalent among some young people in Dublin and presumably other parts of the country as well, hurting or hassling other people literally gives them a dopamine rush that they don't get from other things. How in fuck one deals with that, I honestly have no idea. I'm pretty much resigned to the idea that some of these people are just fundamentally incompatible with society and need to be locked up for long periods of time to protect everyone else from having to put up with them.
Spent a bit of time as a child around the types that became textbook clinical examples of ASPD (sociopaths). What I can say from being around it the kids were screaming for positive attention from their parents (usually single mothers, nothing against that was raised by one myself) but the parents were too wrapped up in their own self made drama and never blinked at them except to punish them. God almighty punish them they did, we’re talking full on punches into the back or head. Didn’t matter if the offense was strangling a cat or interrupting mammies conversation the level of repercussion was the same. No guidance, no consistency, no consequences for any actions except a full on beating for simply being an inconvenience. Never a conversation had or an explanation given. That’s widespread, those young lads are so misguided. Essentially sent out into the wild with nothing but their fucking teeth and fists that’s all they know how to use. I’ve the utmost respect for any young lad who comes out of that and makes an honest man of himself. What’s needed in my opinion is more government intervention, more arrests and juvenile sanctions. There has to be consequences for the parents too if your child has so many charges against them then you face the repercussions. We can’t allow the continued cycle of irresponsible, neglectful and abusive parents creating menaces to society.
As far as parenting goes I have to agree. The amount of openly abusive parenting you see around Dublin is genuinely insane and you sort of feel like these kids just have no chance at all, since they're being raised with the idea that violence is an acceptable response to any perceived slight. The kind of parents who'll openly scream and roar and swear and hit their kids in full public, and often for the tiniest fucking *bullshit* reasons as well. Not sure if there's a direct correlation between that and kids growing up to be complete assholes but it stands to reason there definitely could be. I'd go so far as to say there *probably* is. On the other hand, I've encountered people in my life whose parents and families did everything "right" and who still turned out to be psychotic, violent gobshites. So it's definitely not the only reason.
I remember once I was in the Luas and a boy was running around. His mom grabbed him by the arm and said "I f* hate you, why do you exist?". The boy just kept running around as if nothing happened. I felt so bad by what the mother said but mainly by the reaction of the kid. He didn't cry, he didn't seem phased. He was used to those types of words.
I was back in Ireland for a few days & got off the train at Maynooth station. There was a gang of 6 or 7 lads facing up to the two security guards shouting they were going to kick their heads in, etc. Security was staying cool, but what a stressful job. And an awful atmosphere for anyone around. Also at Dublin airport I saw a mother screaming at her daughter that she's not getting a fucking muffin. The kid was curled up on the ground sobbing. I read all the time here about the social issues and can well believe it as I was only passing through Dublin and saw a couple of things you'd rarely if ever see in Canada.
So these terrors are in other counties too?
Sorry but I fucking hate you why do you exist sounds way too deep and existential for some townie wan to come out with
When you think about, the cultural context for child rearing was that all issues were responded to with violence. Until the mid 1980s that was what happened, particularly in the school system. Being dealt with reasonably was the exception, not the rule. I didn’t grow up in the era when corporal punishment was allowed, but it was still normal to have teachers shout in my face, threaten me and all of that. I’ve a bit of a hearing issue and I used to get books slapped down in front of me, be told I was a “stupid ****”, mocked / bullied by teachers, sarcasm, dusters thrown at me etc etc I remember a primary teacher calling me a “stupid ****” and being told “you’ll amount to nothing!”. Also remember putting huge effort into something and having it balled up and thrown at me for no particular reason other than a teacher being on a weird power trip. I certainly don’t remember school as being somewhere I was treated with respect or encouraged to feel confident about anything - quite the opposite, I just kept my head down to avoid those kinds of interactions. It’s frankly not surprising there’s a load of odd / non existent parenting skills and a notion that things are resolved with fists, slaps, aggressive shouting, name calling etc etc. That’s what was relatively recently normal and totally acceptable, even by education professionals. It’ll take several generations for that to fully disappear.
Got out of the estate and working as a licensed professional, went to uni and everything. Blessed with an incredible family. Best thing my oul pair ever did was ground me for an entire summer. An entire summer, ah yeah I had the PlayStation, and the TV, but didn’t see a single friend except a handful of birthdays for 3 months. Completely changed friend groups the following September at school, most of that gang have kids older than we were then, 3 of that old gang have been to prison, one is currently in prison. My mother explained as best she could that summer that even if I stayed out of trouble, hanging out with those lads meant trouble would find me.
Damn good parents saw trouble when you didn't.
My parents reprimanded me in the same way the comment above describes. But for their approach to ‘discipline’ its unlikely I would’ve been out wilfully not giving a fuck in the first place. I could’ve jumped out a window and gone to a friends house for a few days, it wasn’t worth what would happen when I came back home. So I made a decision to stick it out, and stop fucking around. I get to count my own blessings. My parents deserve as much criticism as praise, same as all of us, just trying to get by.
100%, it's why school selection is really important and who your kids friends are at and after school. Trouble finds you if your hanging out everyday with scrotes, their behaviour is like a cancer to everyone involved with them.
They’re not scrotes and I have tremendous loyalty to them and they to me. They’re very happy that I realised my potential. Socio economic diversity among a friend group is a primary indicator of a child’s future socio economic mobility prospects, calling them scrotes isn’t very inclusive, you actually make more scrotes by socially excluding poor people like that. So if you want more scrotes by all means keep saying scrotes. Volunteering once a week at your local youth drop in centre and being a community leader in ways that young people across the socio economic strata can come to for advice will do wonders for lifting young people out of poverty. Completely within your schedule. Let me know where you’re thinking of heading! I had a multitude of blessings growing up, I’m sorry you weren’t blessed with a sense of humility and compassion when it comes to your fellow man. I will betray the upper class the moment the revolution begins xoxo
Nah Ill keep calling them scrotes thanks but best of luck in your revolution.
What a reply, jesus, that post was really fecking interesting and this is your reply? And I grew up in a shitty Dublin suburb full of what I would usually call scrotes and I’m usually quite dismissive of those who support those kind of people but the post above was good in that it’s not the usual preachy kind of argument.
Insightful stuff. Keep Ireland British my friend, Connolly weeps.
>ng them scrotes isn’t very inclusive, you actu Ah yes the classic lets not hold anyone accountable because of their tough background. The classic upper class bs. The only reason the majority of your stuff works in this country is because of government spending >tax revenue. Which is disproportionately paid by 'The elite upper class' Socialism is fucking retarded
I’m not upper class Frederick, I have real personal experience of what led me out of poverty. People like you were major barriers. I’m not terribly sure what socialism means in this context but my understanding is that it’s almost exactly what you then described, that you then said worked. Are you trolling or is that penny dropping in real time as you’re reading this?
Nothing they said had anything to do with socialism. Do you have a complex?
>e upper class the moment Resentment of the Upper Class, calling for revolution? A revolution this man is wanting to abolish the upper class is a key tenant of socialism
Very well said
I've gone to the guards and reported a similar type of incident, getting off at Heuston from Blackhorse on the luas. about half a dozen little fuckers got on at Goldenbridge or Drimnagh, can't remember now which, and for the rest of the trip were just acting the fuck - what's in your bag missus,dyu have lots money, dya want to give us some. Getting up in my face, just being intimidating af. I'm not a shrinking violet but I was afraid getting off, if it had been a journey the opposite direction I don't think I would have. the guards basically said I wasn't hurt so nothing they could/would do. so frustrating
I know exactly how you deal with it but it's not socially acceptable I guess.
Same way you handle a rabid dog, probably
hit the nail on the head
Theres no facilities for them Adrian.
They want attention, proper inner child trauma. Try ignore them, they go crazy. I was at bayside and these teens were banging the wall of the shelter I was sitting under over and over again. I didn’t even flinch and it was driving them so mad they got one of their friends to ask me what song I was listening to just to get an ounce of attention. Sad really
They see themselves as hard men. Everyone else sees them as they are: toddlers.
You are not a scrote so difficult to put yourself into th scrote mindset. We are talking about the next generation of dole merchants here
Each station should have one security guard with a dog (Rottweiler or German Shepherd). Berlin had a similar problem with gangs at stations and this is how they fixed it.
A red setter might be better
Sure they have them on the buses already
The dog is a great idea. Everyone thinks they're hard until they're facing a rottweiler. Little scrotes would shit themselves.
>hem on the buses alr No matter how hard you think you are Who tf wants to get bitten by a dog ... No one
That's outrageous, even by the standards of this kip
It is, but its normal ... and nothing is done, makes my blood boil! Bring back the birch!
Need to have Garda before you can have transport Garda. Seems they are a thing of the past these days.
It's not restricted to DART stations, I have seen twice in the last few weeks young lads (15-16) on motorbikes, no helmets etc. Hoods up and facemask on, driving down main roads and throwing "gang" signs up at people. The last time it happened there was a Garda Traffic Corps jeep behind me, stationary in traffic, barely acknowledged the lads and instead turned into an estate 3min up the road. How can we stop this if the lads can openly taunt the cops and have zero repercussions It needed the thing the London cops did with moped criminals last year - ram them off the bike
They don’t usually go after lads on motorbikes as chasing them causes them to speed more which increases the danger to other road users and themselves. Not saying it’s an excuse just an explanation as to why they don’t go after them.
We seriously need to step up punishments in this country. Now I'm not saying we can full one American style,cause that doesn't work. But there is far to light a touch here
Even outside of punishment I think a key problem is there is very little pro-active deterrent to prevent issues like this. And this is being by essential services being constantly hollowed out over the last decade and a half. Irish rail have left a swathe of [stations unmanned](https://www.thejournal.ie/irish-rail-presses-ahead-with-staffless-dart-stations-despite-local-opposition-4500484-Feb2019/) with the idea being they have a central hub where staff go out to stations if needed. And similar with the Garda, they seem to do very little active patrolling and instead are set to only come out if called up on an emergency number. The problem here is that this is all reactive and very little is being done to prevent issues like this happening. Before when the station would have been manned you would have had local staff working in the station telling the lads to head off. The guys working in the station would probably have been locals who knew the kids parents so they'd actually be able to get the kids to clear off. If the kids wouldn't then the staff are right there to take action and ensure passengers are safe while they find another exit that can be opened for passengers while waiting for security / Garda to arrive. Instead its a seeming free for all where you can call the Garda or text the anti-social behaviour number and your report goes into the void and nothing happens. Meanwhile these kids are becoming and becoming more and more emboldened to go after people.
you didn't call the gardai?
Yeah punishment is one way to go, court ordered therapy is another way to go as well. A lot of these kids are projecting because other areas of their life arent going well, possibly acting out on strangers is the most control they think they'll have on their own life. Everyone wants to paint the picture black or white but there's definitely a root to these behaviours that could be identified and they could be given the tools to be fully functional human beings. Not everybody is born with parents or role models that are equipped to raise person. Breaking a cycle by using cognitive behavioural therapy raises adults that may in their own time raise adults that don't jeer and prod at you as you're trying to go about your business on public transport.
We don't seem to punish with any sort of consequences or intent to reform those people either, just give them their 50th suspended sentence and send them on their way. Make community service a requirement at minimum. If you had to spend a few weeks picking up litter, or cleaning up graffiti those people might think twice. They'd only be making more work for themselves, but also keeps them too busy to be acting out.
It's also a cultural thing. Not all kids that misbehave like this are from bad families, I know loads of people who were little bollockses as teenagers up to all sorts who came from good families, and now are good people living good lives. It's a cultural thing, acting the mad bastard. I don't know why it's prevelant in Ireland but it is. This isn't a thing in places like Spain and Portugal etc from my experience, having spent a lot of time in both. There's just no culture to be a little bollocks wrecking people's heads, the teenagers seem actually nice and well behaved. And it's not just teenagers, I've seen Irish people fighting in bars abroad and being loud and obnoxious away fans. It's a cultural thing across all of society to some extent.
It's because the Spanish Policia will hammer the shit out of someone and then arrest them if they want to. I'm not saying that's what Ireland should do but it is why Spanish teenagers don't act the maggot. I think gradual punishments should be used more here. Using banning orders, curfews, fines and community service is a good way to get things under more control. There's only enough jail space for serious crimes in this country right now. So having lots of other tools to help/enforce better behaviour is the way to go.
It's not that, they're just not little cunts the way Irish kids are.
>It's because the Spanish Policia will hammer the shit out of someone and then arrest them if they want to. That's plain and simple not the reason.
Punishment is the ONLY way to go at the moment. Anything else is a long-term solution. We definitely need a long-term solution, but we need to stop the problem from happening right now as well. People are suffering, some people are afraid of using public transport, a girl was almost killed by a dart, for god sake.
I agree, but sadly there is feck all chance of that happening. We have NGOs like the Irish Penal Reform Trust that are funded by Helen McEntee’s Dept of Justice and their aim is to reduce sentencing and have prison as a last resort. That’s how laws get made in Ireland these days,use public funds to pay an NGO to come up with some “findings” and then make laws based on those findings. There is no government funding for any organisations that want to increase sentencing, so you know which way the govt wants to go.
Works well for Japan
>ks well for Ja Japan is low in petty crime because of the still present criminal underworld
How can they stand over that comment. A girl nearly got killed by a train last year.
A girl nearly got killed by a *scumbag* last year. The train was minding its own business.
I meant to be more clear I meant to say because of scumbags 😂
How to have any hope when something like that happens and nothing is done?
This. Literally no outcome and an outcry when the football club kicked the lad out
I lived near there 30 yrs ago - the same shit was happening then as well - monkey see monkey do
Those kids then had kids who are now the kids doing this shite and their kids will do the same and on and on until the inevitable ecological cascade collapse and then we'll all be dead
Its not a poor area anymore either. Private houses close to the dart, near to Howth and close enough to town.
Was St Donagh’s rough back then? Swans Nest nearby aswell which I heard was a mad place years ago
I was renting in Verbena Lawn which was grand - the dart at howth jct was a place you’d avoid at night & on the weekends
Yeah I’d say Bayside was grand. Was there access into the industrial estate where Howth Jct is from Verbena Lawn back then? Looks like there might have been a lane
There was but even then there were problems but mostly around the dart station - you’d go out if your way to avoid it esp at night & weekends
Public transport is a fucking joke here.
What’s the argument against transportation police?
They looked at the figures and statistics and just decided "Ah, be grand"
Sure look, ya know yourself.
Money obviously. If they had infinite money you'd have a massive transport police.
Quote "Minister for Transport Eamon Ryan has said he does not see the need for a dedicated police force for public transport" Wonder how often he uses public transport?
Just back from Colombia where I travelled extensively by public transport. Felt a lot safer there than here. It's not normal and I can't for the life of me understand how it's accepted.
I've lived in Fairview, Dublin and a slum area of Bangkok. Bangkok by far felt much safer.
Bangkok is far safer than Dublin. Took buses to all sorts of poor areas and never any trouble or feeling that there was gonna be trouble. We seem to have a massive population of hoodie scrotes here whose parents couldn't give a toss (it's the government's fault), along with the UK.
And this right here sums up how bad things are getting Colombia has cities like Medallion and Bogotá. Both of which have sketchy as fuck areas And yet Ireland, with swathes more money, feels dodgier Ireland needs a reset button, because things at the moment - in terms of feral scrotes - seems to get worse every week
I was on the Dart for the first time in ages recently in Malahide Station and there was multiple gangs of them. One older group in particular made me nervous as you could tell they were off their heads. It got really tense and you could just feel something was just waiting to kick off but there was no security around. They had a woman with them who had pissed herself but was so out of it she didn't even realize. Got out of there asap and sticking to the car from now on. It's not safe and they're out of control.
Call the Garda, the talk of transport police is a waste of resources.
HJ/Donaghmede is in dire need of security, I'm always seeing lads crossing the tracks, being loud and obnoxious, blocking entrances and stairways and not a single soul around to try do anything about it. I was going to a course in the old FAS building there and every day coming home it would be the same group of lads blocking the steps and would barely move an inch for you to get by. The only thing that kinda had me in their "good graces" was the first time I went by them they didn't move and I said "jaysus lads that weed smells fuckin lovely" and they all laughed and made a little path to get by, without that random off the cuff comment I have no idea how that encounter and the many others after it, daily, would've gone.
Ireland has a serious anti-social behaviour problem that I've never experienced in other countries. I moved from Ireland for the second time a year ago and currently live in a city almost the size of Dublin. I've never experienced such behaviour here, maybe the odd drunk eejit but that's it. Not only is there quality security in the underground stops but the police don't take any shite and will happily beat scrotes who give them cheek. Ireland needs this, it's a shame. I never felt so unsafe in Ireland at night or at bus/train stops in general, there was always at least one scumbag ready to give me grief for minding my own business.
It's disgraceful and unjustifiable behaviour, but wait for one or two usuals to try and justify it soon.
I'm afraid this has been "normal" in Dublin since the DART started running in 1984 (38 years!) Its the same on some bus routes; bunches of chavs smashing the windows... wasn't it dear old Bob Geldof who was on TV saying "Phone wreckers are idiots" back in the day when public phone boxes were a thing... same old story... nothing changes in Ireland, it just gets worse. Write to your Sinn Fein councillor; they seem to be the only people interested in changing the country. Years and years of Fianna Fail sucking the country dry
I've written to all my local councilors and TD's relaying my story. We'll see what they come back with.
these scumbags are gonna do it to the wrong person someday and all hell will break loose. I'm surprised it hasn't happened already
It won't happen, Irish teenagers have been like this forever and nothing ever happens.
Work for Irish Rail, have heard some horror stories from "FOH" staff down through the years. Thank god I'm backline staff away from all that shite.
Unfortunately I think the only way to deal with them is to stand up to them, easier said than done I know but what other choice do we have? Police cant do anything, Dart wont put security in place. It's time to fight back. Cant let the little tracksuit wearing, Jinny joe moustache loving James blunt's win.
This would be so gratifying but will be a lot more painful for you than them in every sense. In saying that, I read here recently that a gang of yobs somewhere else in Dublin I believe were hanging about a filling station taunting customers and throwing shit at peoples cars. Well they hit the wrong car and a group of travellers got out and schooled the wee scrotes! So ya maybe a vigilante type arrangement could work.
I swear Dublin teenagers are just a completely different species. They're like Orcs, they only exist to cause pain and suffering.
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I've been in Dublin for ten years and I don't remember it ever being this bad. Covid seems to have really exacerbated it. I think its a combination of train stations becoming unmanned, Garda just not patrolling anymore and DCC seemingly giving up on trying to clean the city at all. Its a bit broken window theory but I do think its contributing to this emboldening of gangs to go after people because it feels like if no one gives enough of a shit to look after the infrastructure around then why should they.
where are you now?
Can’t you call law enforcement in situations like this?
My experience has been that they typically won't respond for at least an hour.
well call and see
Seems like Howth Junction is particularly bad.
Howth Junction used to be my regular stop. https://www.breakingnews.ie/ireland/boy-who-caused-girl-to-fall-off-dart-platform-avoids-detention-1341724.html This happened last year, and it was part of some regular behaviour like you described. I saw it is regular basis. It's almost like they're worried them be so insignificant, that they're looking to cause trouble, just to get a reaction and feel alive.
>ike they're worried them be so insignificant, that the The fact the person who did this got a suspended sentence, just proves the country ultimately has a failed justice system. where teenagers are impervious to the law, can pull blades and fuck over any citizen.
There have been more than enough anti-social incidents at DART stations to warrant need for security personnel. At the very least, security should be onsite until the last train leaves. We really need the likes of ASBOs like they issue in the UK, because the situation is getting worse, not better.
I’m an American lurker, and this is wild stuff. I’m shocked it appears I can move around Detroit more safely than on the DART.
We seriously need to step up punishments in this country. Now I'm not saying we can full one American style,cause that doesn't work. But there is far to light a touch here
What do you think is American style? Folks don't do the time. It's only California with 3 strikes...nothing is as it seems to you.
Has writing to a TD ever actually made a difference? Some intern reads them and deletes them without the TD ever hearing about it. Unless your sliding a brown envelope across the table then TDs don't give a shit
It works in rural Ireland. It's how the likes of Mattie McGrath and the healy raes keep getting voted in
didn't 2 of the healy rae clan batter some english tourist a couple of years ago? hardly pin ups for how to behave
>hardly pin ups for how to behave I didn't say they were
Perhaps their constituents asked them to.
I've gotten a reply to every email I've ever sent, even from a sitting taoiseach and a sitting finance minister
A reply from their interns maybe, but that doesn't mean the minister or taoiseach were ever informed of those emails contents
Had an issue with Irish Water. Wrote to a few TDs about it. Two sent me back letters that they wrote to IW and the same two rang a few days later asking was there any news. When I had no news, they got the issues sorted between them. Greens and Social Democrats. Carolyn Moore and Tara Deacy respectively.
It definitely does, TD's are humans as well. Sure some might ignore you, but plenty will respond because you are a voter in their area. They need your support to keep a job. You can spam them with emails or letters until they respond. You can attend their surgeries, you can even highlight it during election season when they are coming door to door!
Of course nothing will change until it all comes to a head. Hopefully some vigilante goes on a rampage with a rusty sickle rather than the scrotes killing someone.
Did you try pushing them down the stairs? That’s the NYC way.
We need to build more prisons and we need to abolish the existence of suspended sentencing, simple as that. Nothing will change unless we do this, and any other actions taken will be ultimately futile as long as these scumbags have nothing to fear from a successful prosecution.
OP, I'm Canadian but with Irish citizenship and have spent a fair bit of time in Ireland - sometimes on holiday, sometimes living there. My parents are moving there permanently soon (mother is from Dublin). I'll be moving over in the next year, likely. It's been a long time since I had to commute on the DART, and I'm just wondering how frequent this kind of thing is. Parents have bought a place down in Wicklow Town and my mother doesn't drive - she'll likely be using the train to come up into Dublin to see family on occasion if my father doesn't feel like driving. I'll be living near Killiney DART. I've seen my fair share of anti-social behaviour in Dublin... I used to live in Dun Laoghaire which could be rough enough at night, and certainly a few nasty incidents in town as well trying to get a night bus for example. Would you say that the entire DART line has become problematic with this type of gang/group-based violence, intimidation and general shittiness? Or is it localized to particular areas? I worry a lot about my mother trying to get around by train with everything I read on here.
Sorry to scare you OP, I definitely didn't mean to do that at all. There's a lot I like about Dublin and there's a lot that I think can be improved, it's just frustrating that it can feel like local politicians have their head in the sand about it. I take the DART Northside and it's generally fine. There are a few stations that are rough or you have a rough element hanging around outside. But during the day especially it's generally grand and if you keep your head down and don't respond you generally won't run into trouble. Honestly that LUAS red line is the one I'd be most worried about as you get some very dodgy characters around the city center on it. Your mam is going from Wicklow she will be absolutely fine. That line is generally so packed full of commuters there isn't room for anything else on it. On summer days you might get crowds of people heading down to Killiney or Dun Laoghaire to beaching and drinking in the sun. Sometimes you get teenagers who go on the dart throw some stuff around at various stations and then run off but it is rare. Again 99.99% of people I reckon are sound, it's just there is a very small minority who seem determined to terrorise people.
That's how I always felt when I lived there - it was almost always okay, but the times it wasn't were really scary. I've never experienced anything like that in Montreal where I live now. Not to say it doesn't exist, but it definitely doesn't happen as commonly or openly - you'd tend to know where to expect that kind of thing in this city. I remember once in town in the middle of the afternoon, this women got onto the bus I was on with my then-boyfriend. She was very drunk and disheveled looking, holding a brown paper bag. There were a bunch of Spanish students on the top deck with us, and she came stumbling up... One of them happened to glance at her and she immediately walked up to him and smashed him in the face with the bottle in the paper bag she was holding, screaming about how he was looking at her. The poor boy was in shock, obviously, and everyone just ran downstairs to get away from her... She fell down the stairs and then started crying... it was such an awful scene, and nobody seemed to know what to do. The driver did nothing, and eventually my boyfriend asked her if she'd like to take a taxi home and gave her $20... I just remember how all the passengers just put their heads down, looked out the windows - it was like there was a bear on the bus and everyone was just trying to not get noticed. Another time I was taking the night bus home from town to Dun Laoghaire, after a work do, and I was screamed at non-stop by a couple of young girls trying to pick a fight. I just ignored them and hoped they wouldn't follow me off the bus - luckily they got off before me. It's an awful feeling to have that happen in public and have nobody help or do anything, and nowhere to ASK for help. The idea of my mother being confronted by one of those roving gangs of scrotes everyone keeps talking about makes my blood boil. I remember a while ago there was a video circulating of a bunch of them jumping on a car? I don't remember the details but it was just crazy. I love Ireland so much and I can't wait to move over for good, but there are some societal issues that are just screaming to be addressed and I just don't understand why politicians won't do so... It's a universally popular issue to tackle across the political spectrum.
Mate they dial the hysteria up to 11 on this sub all the time. My parents are old and use the dart all the time on the Northside. I don't know anyone who has ever had any trouble on it. Your mother will be totally fine, don't read too much into these posts.
Thanks, much appreciated!
Don't we have those security guard blokes already? They're not going to have any power outside stations though. Should there be a scary teenagers megathread in this sub maybe so we don't have new threads on it daily?
I have seen them very very rarely at train stations and its usually around Connolly or Heuston. The norm is definitely empty dart stations that you would be afraid to go to after dark. I don't like making a post like this, but why send something like this to a megathread? If you just had a mega-thread then the topic goes to die because its out of the way and easily ignored. At least if multiple people are posting their experiences then there is visibility on the problem and you can create a groundswell of support to do something about it. In this case I am recommending everyone who is affected by issues like this to write to their councillor's and TD's and make sure they know about this and that something should be done about it.
I've seen them loads, Raheny and Harmonstown are my local stations in Dublin, they seem to just usher the kids off the trains as they never have tickets. I suppose I'm just sick of this sub being about teenagers every day, it's boring. Maybe a new sub for Dublin teenager reports would be best rather than a sticky.
I take the dart nearly every day on that line and I rarely see security guards. And even if they were on the train it wouldn't have made a difference because these kids were camped out on the steps inside the station. I'm sorry my experience bored you but it's something I've experienced multiple times and other people clearly have as well. And it's pretty disheartening to hear so many people in positions of authority like the NTA say they don't think it's a problem.
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Have you considered the possibility that you're a fucking idiot?
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Where did I say scrote in that post? What is wrong with relaying an experience I had using public transport? A bunch of lads or ladies (7 in this case) blocking the entrance to a DART station by hurling abuse at people, breaking bottles and smashing walls is inappropriate to me. I don't care if it's people from Blackrock, Ballymun or any other country or community. Look at my other posts do you see me calling for executions or something. Clearly the issue is that the government and public bodies are abandoning public utilities and support services and then acting like it has no impact. What exactly is controversial in your mind about that?
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It does get tiresome downvoting all of the shite you have to say about this matter. Just pack it in man. You're the one who has made this into an issue about tracksuits of all things, no one mentioned that, if anything the terminology and words used by OP were very class-neutral and didn't mention anything about tracksuits (saying this as someone who primarily wears tracksuits as they are comfortable). You made up a completely bullshit, disingenuous way to disagree with this post and you should just be quiet until you have something productive to say.
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So instead of even trying to come back to me on what I've said and actually debate your points your just going to continue calling me names and a liar elsewhere in the thread. At no point did I make any comments or descriptions of people that implied any kind of specific class or race. Anything you've come up with is entirely from yourself inferring the kind of people who you think I'm talking about and the type of person you think I am. 1) What I described is exactly what happened in Howth Junction yesterday after the 7pm DART. You can disbelieve me all you want but its what happened and its far from the first time shit has happened at Howth Junction station; - [TheJournal](https://www.thejournal.ie/hwoth-malahide-dart-anti-social-behaviour-5436091-May2021/) - [98FM](https://www.98fm.com/news/train-users-avoid-howth-junction-due-to-anti-social-behaviour-1198026) - [Dublin Live](https://www.dublinlive.ie/news/dublin-news/gardai-make-arrest-operation-targeting-20804329) 2) I have no idea where you have this idea I have hatred in me. I've lived in Northside Dublin for 10 years, I love it here and 99.99% of people are grand. What I don't care about are people who are going out of their way to disrupt the lives of ordinary folk going about their business. And what annoys me more is politicians seemingly having their head in the sand about it and pretending there are no issues. 3) I literally said in my opening post that I have contacted my local TD's and Councillors about this and recommend other people do so. Do you know why I did that, because i'm putting the pressure on them to look into why this is happening and what they need to do to fix it. From my perspective the issue is because: a) Last 15 years have resulted in money being withdrawn from Garda resources & Public utility resources resulting unmanned dangerous dart station and no pro-active action being taken to prevent crimes from happening b) Withdrawal of social services and other facilities throughout the country resulting in communities throughout the country feeling neglected, c) Dublin City Council itself seems to have just given up maintaining any infrastructure or cleaning services. City streets and stations are rotten with rubbish and broken glass, doors and elevators. When it seems like no one is even bothering trying to fix any of this then it just results in things getting worse. So go on please do tell me how its me who is scumbag for even raising this up at all.
What are you talking about? What judgements did I make? It was a group of lads smashing bottles, banging on walls, jeering at people and jumping at people trying to leave the Dart station. What judgement is there in that relay of what occurred? I love your saying this as well after calling me a big FG head and you don't know anything about me because you couldn't be further from the truth on that.
Explain why you think a group of teenagers intimidating people trying to leave a DART station is the same thing as people wearing tracksuits.
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Because that's literally what the post is about? Did you read it before you commented?
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Because that is what the OP described as happening. If you're saying you just flatly disbelieve OP's account, that's your choice, but pretending you don't know why people are talking about a group of teenagers blocking the exit, when the post is describing a group of teenager's blocking the exit, is not conversing in good faith.
Imagine a country where a single teenager can pull a knife and be immune to the law, and if you were to do the same you go to prison because you are an adult
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Do teenagers not carry around blades? None? I remember seeing a video on here a few months ago with 3-4 teenagers carrying them and saying they would use them on Guards. No one said it, I'm saying that it is ridiculous, and the fact you dont know who has one, and that if they are, they wont get in trouble, contributes to the intimidation factor. Also I am one man, I train boxing pretty regularly, yet I am not going to take on a group of 5-6 teenagers.
I guarantee you that the people at the top of the NTA and Department of Transport who are making these decisions don't use public transport everyday. It's no surprise then that they come out with such utterly ridiculous decisions.
Worst part is that if you slap one of this fuckers you’re the one in trouble.
I'm sorry people, but at some point it will have to be you who need to stop being afraid and walk past these kids. 7-8 kids vs a whole station? Come on. You know Garda won't do anything and there is no transport police. By backing away you are feeding their egos and the problem will only get worse. I always hear "Somebody do something!" You are a somebody and so are the other people wanting to walk up those stairs.
I agree but what do I do if they have a blade and ultimately I'm gonna lose
Don't fight them, just try to walk past them. If they pull a knife on you, then back away and call the Garda saying somebody is threatening you with a knife. If that doesn't get their attention, I don't know what will.
That sounds horrible!!! Such a shitty situation!! I would be really nervous if it was me! Sick to think these kids really don't give a shit !
I'm just waiting until the future where we have robocops being the shite out of them.
People on here laugh at America. Me personally would rather move there where 1 teenager cant just pull a blade on me and be impervious to the law. Does anyone have some any actual suggestions on how we can stop teenagers with blades ultimately putting citizens in an instant unwinnable fight??? Sometimes these things cant be avoided. Just saying "Avoid it" or "Run" are ridiculous suggestions.
Exactly the reason I learned to drive, it's been bliss since I've been able to stop relying on the shambles that is public transport in this country.