If you were to draw up a short-list of the most desirable cities in the British Isles to visit, London might be top, but Dublin would be not far off. It’s a natural place for the Security TWENTY series of exhibitions; the next is on Thursday, February 6. While Dublin puts on a fine show for the tourists, in security terms and more generally it’s ill at ease with itself, writes Mark Rowe.
“The narrative of Dublin has become deeply negative. Social media is full of reports of violence, of hostility, of heavy littering etc most of which is misinformation.” So said the report of the Dublin Taskforce in October; made up of senior people from various fields – such as Assistant Commissioner, An Garda Síochána (AGS, the Republic of Ireland’s police), Angela Willis – who met in person for several full-day meetings in June, July and August, after set up by the Department of the Taoiseach in May. The picture they painted, and their remedies, may sound bewildering to tourists who are delighted by the Guinness brewery, and charming, buzzy, human-scale streets by day, and the pubs and restaurants of Temple Bar on the south side of the city by night (and maybe day as well). If you don’t know any better, or frankly care on a long weekend, Dublin has it all – culture (even if you only experience it as statues and the names of bars), and entertainment, and mercifully it’s all on the flat. The chronic problems the Taskforce set out sound familiar to other cities of Britain and indeed the western world.
O’Connell Street
Of O’Connell Street, the report speaks of ‘empty and neglected buildings, traffic congestion and a lack of significant investment’ that have led to a ‘dysfunctional and unappealing street’. As for how that hurts to an informed or Irish reader, some background. O’Connell Street is more than Oxford Street is to London, its main shopping parade. O’Connell Street is also the Trafalgar Square; the Irish republic was proclaimed in the Easter Uprising of 1916 at the General Post Office (GPO) there. The Taskforce, symbolically, proposes relocation of the O’Connell Street Garda Station to the GPO, pending longer-term development. Dublin matters more greatly to the Republic of Ireland than London does to England, in terms of population, economy, history and culture; and O’Connell Street needs revitalising, the Taskforce acknowledges. Across the road from the GPO is the Clerys department store building, which closed ten years ago and is only now being regenerated into a ‘Clerys Quarter’ of a mix of retail, leisure and residential. There lies another problem; regeneration takes time, given what the Taskforce terms a ‘byzantine planning system’. The Taskforce sums up: “If Dublin is a city centre that needs urgent intervention, O’Connell Street is the emblem of that.”
Transport
Beyond, the Taskforce suggests three or four high footfall areas made into visitor corridors. Using Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design (CPTED) principles, these corridors will be safe, clean and attractive spaces, the report states. That implies movement of people, and the shortcomings of transport are one of the threads of the Taskforce report, and not only because Dublin is described as one of the most congested cities in Europe (it has a quite modern tram network, and trains, but no underground metro). Perception of safety and use of public transport contribute to a reluctance to visit the city centre, says the report; significant because personal safety (both a perception issue and a real issue, the report notes, and ‘especially for female passengers’) has an effect on the city economy, and potentially putting off visitors, locals and foreigners. The report says more generally: “The perception of the city centre as safe has declined sharply especially during and since the covid-19 pandemic with challenging youth behaviour as a particular issue. Crime statistics do not show a sharp increase over the same period; or that Dublin is an outlier against peer cities. But actual crime statistics do not show the full picture as much anti-social behaviour falls outside of crime definitions. Our view is that more visible security in the city centre is essential.”
Dublin falls short of the European average of police to inhabitants in the city with one police officer per 373; compared to the European Union average of one police officer per 293. That translates into a shortfall of about 1,000 Gardaí (Irish police officers), which the Taskforce wants reversed as a minimum, phased in over three years. Dublin and Ireland are having a debate common to other cities and countries about how the police ought to ‘concentrate on frontline policing’. The Taskforce notes that some Gardaí are doing non-policing work in the city centre, that could be carried out by other agencies.
That Dublin should copy any number of British cities and employ wardens, rangers or community safety patrollers (whatever you choose to call them), whether on high streets or on buses and trains, has been under discussion in Dublin for years; the October 2023 edition of Professional Security Magazine reported a couple of trial warden schemes, paid for through the Department of Justice’s Community Safety Initiative Fund. The Taskforce acknowledges Dublin’s community safety warden programme; the report calls for a city warden programme, ‘to liaise with local businesses, promote social activities, operate mobile safety vehicles and enforce bye laws, including but not limited to littering and other anti-social behaviours’. For years, tram passengers have routinely seen private security operatives. The Taskforce recommends that such use of private security ‘should be strengthened, through good co-ordination with AGS’. The report adds: “The visibility of softer surveillance and official presence is a feature of many European cities. Local city wardens with powers over littering etc is a positive measure which should be tested.”
The Taskforce asks the Department of Justice also to upgrade CCTV, to provide for cameras at identified problematic areas including laneways and public spaces and enact legislation to facilitate real time monitoring and efficient analysis. Other issues mentioned by the Taskforce in passing are familiar to British cities; such as the filming of police officers. The report proposes a law to prohibit social media platforms from allowing the circulation of videos, images, or live streaming of members of the police, without consent
Causes of causes
The report does not shy away from what you might call ‘the causes of causes’. Such as, why is it so easy in Dublin (as Birmingham, a similarly sized city in Britain) to see zonked-out addicts on the street or around the main railway and bus stations at any hour, and accompanying antisocial noise? The report says: “Poor quality housing with inadequate amenities creates hotspots for antisocial behaviour that undermine the community’s quality of life and visitor experience.” Dublin’s high cost of living means ‘a crisis in recruiting staff’ including security officers, also meaning bus drivers, teachers, hotel and shop workers. That, and the lack of affordable or any housing means homelessness. The report points to the ‘relatively recent phenomenon of charities providing food, tents and other services on the street’, which, while well intentioned, adds to ‘social issues’; hence the Taskforce proposes bye laws to regulate on- street charitable services such as soup kitchens.
As for drug taking, the report proposes more treatment services, to reduce antisocial behaviour in Dublin city centre by addicts, by ‘shifting the focus from criminalisation to a health-led approach’. Litter is not only unsightly and may put off visits, but it attracts vermin. The report appreciates that the nature of modern life, single use, disposable food and drink ware, leads to more waste made and discarded improperly. Public behaviour also plays a role. Having a littered environment is self-perpetuating, according to the report, and despite the best efforts of Dublin City Council waste management teams, ‘there is evidence of a drop in standards of behaviour’ – that is, of people dropping litter, according to the report.
