Is O'Connell street that bad?

cloud493

Just coming off the AH thread, is it that bad? I mean I won't lie and say I've never been hassled on it or its a place I'd want to eat my lunch on whatever, but I've never seen the 'hordes' of junkies or whatever people seem to imply there is, same with Henry street and Talbot street, the anti social aspect is totally blown out of proportion. Although I certainly couldn't deny more Gardai around wouldn't be a good thing.

steveblack572

if you are in dublin a lot you wont notice the junkies. Go on a long vacation, 1 month away from city center, when you come back, its WTF never noticed it before, a dublin based spin off of The Walking Dead.

arybvtcw0eolkf

Oh, its this again.. We haven't done O'Connell St, its environs and junkies in ohhhhhh 48hrs?.

It depends OP, whether you walk with a white stick or rose tinted glasses ~ or your eyes wide open. In which case it goes from 'nothing to see here folks, to 'not too bad really' to the reality that its an embarassing eye sore of a kip.

alastair

Is it that bad?

No.

Is it a bit of a kip?

Sure.

Depends on whether your focused on the optics or actual anti-social activity.

steveblack572

makikomi, rush fight academy, trains boxer and mma fighters. i think you would not be the kind to be worried by the low lifes, but what about the 99% who dont train to fight? They find it a dangerous kip

cloud493

Its not quite 28 days later yet :pac:

Hootanany

Im working around around there at the moment and i keep looking for all the Junkies and their is not that many that i can see Parnell end

spurious

Hootanany wrote: »

Im working around around there at the moment and i keep looking for all the Junkies and their is not that many that i can see Parnell end

They are all 'assisting' the country cousins with parking on the North Strand and Ballybough.

Jumboman

Its a disgrace that the main street of our capital city is such a kip.

I don't think there are many other countries were their main street happens to be one of the worst streets in the country.

quadrifoglio verde

Will you randomly get stabbed on o Connell st.
Probably not.
Is it the beautiful inviting avenue that it could be.
Em, sadly no.
It's a place that I choose to avoid unless necessary, mainly due to the in inviting nature of it, as well as the traffic on it. There's plenty of other streets heading north in dublin, why do we have to have smoky black diesel buses going up and down the street.
I really think if a pedestrian zone was created from grafton st to the top of o Connell st, except for the bridge and the drug treatment centres moved out to the suburbs, it'd improve the city so much.

Jumboman

quadrifoglio verde wrote: »

Will you randomly get stabbed on o Connell st.
Probably not.
Is it the beautiful inviting avenue that it could be.
Em, sadly no.
It's a place that I choose to avoid unless necessary, mainly due to the in inviting nature of it, as well as the traffic on it. There's plenty of other streets heading north in dublin, why do we have to have smoky black diesel buses going up and down the street.
I really think if a pedestrian zone was created from grafton st to the top of o Connell st, except for the bridge and the drug treatment centres moved out to the suburbs, it'd improve the city so much.

You would not want to walk down O'Connell after 10PM at night.

Ole Rodrigo

Jumboman wrote: »

You would not want to walk down O'Connell after 10PM at night.

Rubbish.

You may feel you can't, but that has no bearing on actual safety.

January

Jumboman wrote: »

You would not want to walk down O'Connell after 10PM at night.

Why not? I've often walked down it much later... no problems at all.

SimonTemplar

People who say it is a no go area are incorrect.
People who say it is perfectly fine are also incorrect.

O'Connell St and its environs (Abbey St, quays) are the default daily hang out places for drug dealers, drug addicts and the alcoholics. Often they are loud, obnoxious and unsightly which drags down the tone of the area and may cause people to feel unsafe or uncomfortable. However, they rarely bother ordinary people walking through the area. I think it is very much the case of the area's bark being worse than its bite.

Muggings and phone snatching can and do occur all over the city - not just O'Connell St.

That being said, the place still needs to be cleaned up, if only for aesthetic reason.s

Jumboman

January wrote: »

Why not? I've often walked down it much later... no problems at all.

Only a few weeks ago a Scumbag on O'Connell Street threatened to "smash my face in" because I wouldn't give him a cigarette and I don't even smoke.

This was during the day. At night the Scumbags on O'Connell Street are far worse if you have a run in with them they won't hesitate in pulling out a knife.

arybvtcw0eolkf

Jumboman wrote: »

You would not want to walk down O'Connell after 10PM at night.

Sure, not a bother.. I work a bar/nightclub door in the Templebar area and my advice to people is usually go out after 10pm because thats when most of the addicts and scum have done their thieving and fecked off home (or to their hostel) for a kip for the night.

Most of my problems with them are before 10.

Slunk

I think its just the abbey street end of o connell street that's full of junkies. Thankfully they've never bothered me nor have I seen them bother others apart fro the usual 'spare change bud'. That been said they are still a blight on the area. As for the scumbags who will pick a fight over a cigarette, unfortunately they are everywhere.

LionelNashe

cloud493 wrote: »

Just coming off the AH thread, is it that bad? I mean I won't lie and say I've never been hassled on it or its a place I'd want to eat my lunch on whatever, but I've never seen the 'hordes' of junkies or whatever people seem to imply there is, same with Henry street and Talbot street, the anti social aspect is totally blown out of proportion. Although I certainly couldn't deny more Gardai around wouldn't be a good thing.

A lot of the time when people refer to Talbot Street they really mean North Earl Street. For years there was a reasonable number of addicts around North Earl Street, but the cops seem to have moved them on to somewhere else lately. I don't like to look at them, but I can't say that I've ever been hassled, and I've rarely even been approached by any of them.

tayto lover

Don't know what all the fuss is about. Never had any hassle on it and never saw any trouble. I am there usually during the day though so can't comment on nighttime.

wiseoldelf34

never see anything going on there.just think that its blown all out of proportion as per

Jumboman

O'Connell street has become so dangerous that you don't even see gardas there at night anymore.

anncoates

Saying there's an undead style army of junkies is a bit OTT. As is saying it's really dangerous at night.

But there is a visible element of junkies and winos specifically around the Jervis and Abbey street Luas stops and at times the boardwalks.

Magenta

LionelNashe wrote: »

A lot of the time when people refer to Talbot Street they really mean North Earl Street. For years there was a reasonable number of addicts around North Earl Street, but the cops seem to have moved them on to somewhere else lately. I don't like to look at them, but I can't say that I've ever been hassled, and I've rarely even been approached by any of them.

They've moved to outside Londis on Westmoreland St now.

JuliusCaesar

The worst thing about O'Connell St IMHO - and I'm there frequently, mostly daytimes, but occasionally at night - is that bloody awful bagpipe busker outside Cleary's.

He can no more play the bagpipes than I can. It's about time DCC regulated busking, because he's a disgrace, Joe, my eardrums haven't been the same since, it's a danger to young people and babies with vulnerable ears. And anyone deaf is just lucky, in fact I've been thinking of going deaf as I pass him, it's a bleeding disgrace and it's just dizgusting so it is.







The junkies don't bother me, and I don't bother them.

cloud493

I thought they already regulated busking. On grafton street anyway.

Aard

ror_74 wrote: »

Rubbish.

You may feel you can't, but that has no bearing on actual safety.

Be that as it may, perceived safety is more important than actual safety in determining such behaviour (i.e. in this case whether or not people will walk down the street at night).

smellmepower

Magenta wrote: »

They've moved to outside Londis on Westmoreland St now.

Addicts have been congregating on the corner of Westmoreland Street/Aston Quay since the 90's.They use the phone box and the lanes behind the quay.

Most of the addicts that used to frequent the Talbot/Nth Earl/Marlborough St areas have been pushed down towards the Custom House by the brilliantly thought out Garda operation that doesn't actually solve anything.

Ole Rodrigo

Aard wrote: »

Be that as it may, perceived safety is more important than actual safety in determining such behaviour (i.e. in this case whether or not people will walk down the street at night).

There is some truth there - but I would say if you feel a place is dangerous, you may actually attract unwanted attention, which would confirm your original bias. Anybody is safe walking down O'Connell street at any time of day or night. However, street smarts will tell you not to stare at some people. Dublin is no different to any other major city in that regard. Random attacks and muggings are very unusual - most of that is kept amongst themselves. The worst is probably the taxi rank on a saturday night, never mind the junkies.

Garzard

Slunk wrote: »

I think its just the abbey street end of o connell street that's full of junkies. Thankfully they've never bothered me nor have I seen them bother others apart fro the usual 'spare change bud'. That been said they are still a blight on the area. As for the scumbags who will pick a fight over a cigarette, unfortunately they are everywhere.

Including O'Connell St, Abbey St, Aston Quay the worst areas with an addict problem must include Westmoreland Street as a whole & College Green. Being a frequent user of the bus stops around there, it's infuriating to have the same addicts + general beggars persistently hassling passers-by as well as people like myself waiting along the bus stops. It's partly the reason [as well as the ridiculous bus fares] why I've switched to cycling - shag all is being done about those streets.

Birneybau

Jumboman wrote: »

O'Connell street has become so dangerous that you don't even see gardas there at night anymore.

Haha!

Tombo2001

Its not that bad.

Its just highly disappointing in terms of its potential and in terms of what should be, and supposedly is, the capital city's premier street.

Dublin City Council has invested considerable sums on renovating O'Connell Stree. The Spire, the nice new trees and so on.

What it needs to spend more money on is clearing out all the crappy fast food outlets and newsagents, and bringing in some high quality shops.

There isnt one decent restaurant.

There isnt one decent coffee shop (say a Bewleys equivalent).

There isnt one decent clothes shop for men or women or kids.

There's no art gallery, there's nothing dedicated cultural space.