Safety in Ireland and Dublin

hondatown

Hi

Recently I've moved from Munich, Germany, to Dublin,Ireland and I'd like to know how risky is it to walk around the city alone, in the night?

I'm used to cities like Munich (Germany), Berlin (Germany), Vienna (Austria), Basel (Switzerland) where it's totally normal for me to wander alone around the city in the night, without having to worry about anything. Many times I have also slept on the streets as it happened that the party was intense and somehow I didn't make it to my home. I was never harassed, except once German police had woke me up and asked if I'm OK.

However, I'm bit sceptic that walking around Irish towns, alone, in the night, would be a good idea based on my internet search. It turned out that so far I was living in the group of the safest cities in the world. Dublin, on the other hand, seems to be the complete opposite of that:

numbeo.com/crime/compare_cities.jsp?country1=Ireland&country2=Germany&city1=Dublin&city2=Munich&tracking=getDispatchComparison

In fact, it's ranked among the cities with highest crime rate in the world.

However, something is the stuff one can read on the internet and something is the reality. By being in Ireland, there were a couple of red flags that I've experienced so far.

>One of my coworkers said that whatever I do, do not talk with random people outside tourist areas in Dublin. Do-not-talk-to -them. Do not. In particular, do not talk with sinister looking men who spit on floor. This totally freaked me out. Still not sure what he wanted to warn me about - professional pick-pocketing or mugging?If it is the former, then I can accept that, but if it's latter then I have a problem, as this represents physical violence. The last thing I'd like to have is being threatened or physically assaulted with unpredictable consequences.

> I have never seen so many scumbag looking men and junkies. It seems that drugs are huge problem in Ireland. I'm hit by these people so often.

> had a chat with taxi-driver (woman) and she told me, that she would ever never dare to walk alone in Dublin in night hours. She even said that she doesn't have a courage to run her business during the night.

>And finally, after being a week in Ireland, I have already had an attempt of burglary. I left window opened for 30mins, and in the middle of the day some junkie climbed over fence and tried to enter my house. I have intercepted him and thankfully he didn't seem to be armed. He run away.

blanch152

Male or female?

What part of the city?

Where are you living for the burglary?

One_Of_Shanks

blanch152 wrote: »

Male or female?

That would affect your recommendation of which streets are safe?

One_Of_Shanks

@OP, Dublin is no more dangerous than most capital european cities. You'd have to give more information to get more in return but in general it's a fairly safe city. Its hard to give advice without knowing specifics but Dublin is fairly safe in general. As much as anywhere else.

Gaspode

Not D15 related, moved to Dublin city. OP, there are any number of threads on this same subject, dont know what there is to gain from another one tbh.

Carlos Orange

hondatown wrote: »

Hi

Recently I've moved from Munich, Germany, to Dublin,Ireland and I'd like to know how risky is it to walk around the city alone, in the night?

numbeo.com/crime/compare_cities.jsp?country1=Ireland&country2=Germany&city1=Dublin&city2=Munich&tracking=getDispatchComparison

In fact, it's ranked among the cities with highest crime rate in the world.

That seems to be comparing peoples individual perceptions and not real crime numbers so it is relatively meaningless. Not even people who have lived in both cities. Irish people love to moan and complain about stuff.


You can see actual crime stats here but they are at a national level and crime isn't uniformly distributed in countries or always uniformly reported in different jurisdictions. The rate of assault is about twice as high in Germany as Ireland.

http://www.civitas.org.uk/content/files/crime_stats_oecdjan2012.pdf

ganmo

One_Of_Shanks wrote: »

That would affect your recommendation of which streets are safe?

Some ppl would say yes. I'd walk steets alone at night that my sis wouldn't now does that mean I'm foolish or she's overly cautious?

daveharnett

hondatown wrote: »

numbeo.com/crime/compare_cities.jsp?country1=Ireland&country2=Germany&city1=Dublin&city2=Munich&tracking=getDispatchComparison

That site ranks cities based on their residents' perceptions about crime.
This will tell us a fair bit about residents' media diet, and almost nothing about crime.
I wouldn't give it any more weight than the equally perception-based rankings which list Ireland/Dublin/Galway among the friendliest places in the world.
https://www.intrepidtravel.com/adventures/worlds-friendliest-countries/
http://www.cntraveler.com/galleries/2015-08-14/the-2015-friendliest-and-unfriendliest-cities-in-the-world


AFAIK, the only trustworthy/comparable international metric is murder rate - just about every other comparison is apples-to-oranges because of how local law enforcement record(or don't) and categorize crimes. For example, does Belgium have 31 times more muggings than Ireland, or are the Belgians just more diligent about reporting/recording them? http://www.unodc.org/documents/data-and-analysis/statistics/crime/CTS12_Robbery.xls
As it happens, Ireland compares pretty well internationally for murder rate:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_intentional_homicide_rate

hondatown wrote: »

>One of my coworkers said that whatever I do, do not talk with random people outside tourist areas in Dublin. Do-not-talk-to -them. Do not.This totally freaked me out.

It should freak you out. Your coworker is either dangerously paranoid, or such an arsehole that they consistently have bad interactions with strangers.

hondatown wrote: »

In particular, do not talk with sinister looking men who spit on floor.

Fair enough, that checks out.




Like any city, some areas are more dangerous than others. If you go for a kip on the wrong street, you might wake up without your phone/wallet/shoes. More likely, you'll have the same experience you did in Germany, but wetter. If you use a little common sense and you're aware of your surroundings, you'll be grand.

(after all, if you've survived in Munich as "hondatown", you can survive anything )

Just remember that "person goes for walk, gets killed" is infinitely more likely to get reported than "person goes for walk, has unexpectedly lovely time". If you pay attention to "if it bleeds it leads" media, fear-of-crime is likely to cost you more quality-of-life than crime itself.

I've only been in Dublin a few months but so far I find it safe as any large city. I've lived in London, NYC and Washington DC in the states and find Dublin no more dangerous than comparable cities. Pay attention, mind your surroundings and avoid dodgy areas. You'll be fine imo...
I'd be interested in knowing more about any drug issues here? Saw quite a bit of that in London and NY and it brought in a rough element. So far haven't seen much of that here, is that a bigger problem? How so?

Pawwed Rig

Dublin has a distinct advantage as you can identify the dodgey characters, in many cases, from a distance, by the way they are dressed and by the way they walk (grey tracksuits are a dead giveaway). This has served me well working in the roughest part of the city.

odyssey06

There are many streets in Dublin I would feel safe walking down in the night... and many I would not.
Trust your instincts. If it's dark, deserted or if it's narrow laneway avoid.
If the street has random mix of people walking through, it's ok.
If the street is deserted except for a group who are loitering \ standing in it for a while, avoid if you can.

I think time to give up the sleeping on the streets though... make sure you make it home. Familiarise yourself with the Nitelink Dublin Bus schedule and get a public transport LEAP card. That way, even if you run out of money in the club \ party, you still have a means to get home from the city centre at least.

Victor

Talk to your landlord about security. Don't leave ground floor windows or accessible upper floor windows open, unless you are there. A burglar alarm is useful, but not mandatory.

hondatown wrote: »

Many times I have also slept on the streets as it happened that the party was intense

If you party that intense, be aware that you have both a safety and a security risk - there is a risk of falling or being run over by traffic or if you are in the wrong place of being mugged or assaulted, but that could happen in any city.

Sleeping on the street in Ireland will probably get you wet - it rains most days, but not much (occasionally, there is a lot). There are trams, trains and buses and plenty of taxis.

You do see a lot of drunks or addicts in the city centre, as that is where their clinics are. Most aren't a problem. It's a visibility issue as opposed to an issue.

Day time - traffic is your greatest concern. You may be harrassed by beggars, but risk of mugging or pick-pocketing is low. As a general rule, avoid drunks and addicts, but just because they are a drunk and addict doesn't mean they are bad people.

Evening / night time - there can be lots of drunkenness, especially around Temple Bar at the weekend. Irish people drink in public, not so much at home. Go with friends. Avoid people, especially groups of people, who are excessively drunk / rowdy.

Mugging and burglary - never with a gun, rarely with a knife or syringe.

Rape - most likely by someone you know.

Murder - if you don't traffic drugs, most likely by someone you know.

I've been in Dublin for 24 years and visiting it for longer. I've had someone spit in my face once and twice had youths throw something at my. I have been called names occasionally. I've lost two wallets (not stolen) and got one back (less the cash). I've had 4 bikes stolen.

Other than that, it's been boisterousness and traffic.