O'Connell Street Dublin. What the fook like

seachto7

harr wrote: »

Plenty of scum in Spain as well...but I have seen them ran off it, surely on our capitals Main Street the guards should have a zero tolerance approach..

A different type of scumbag.

Outlaw Pete

murpho999 wrote: »

So that makes them authorities on Dublin and the people on O'Connell Street?

Prison Officers and Bouncers: They regular deal with the nice people of Dublin alright.

Dude, you said:

murpho999 wrote: »

These are the typical anti Dublin comments left on these type of threads by people who are probably never in Dublin.

I'm just pointing out to you that some of the users you mentioned actually live in Dublin, I said nothing whatsoever about them being authorities on the place.

dfx-

murpho999 wrote: »

These are the typical anti Dublin comments left on these type of threads by people who are probably never in Dublin.

O'Connell Street can certainly do with improvements but walk down it any day and it's full of tourists, shoppers, workers and students etc.

It's vibrant and busy.

People should stop giving the impression that it's dangerous or dominated by junkies when it's not the case.

O'Connell Street is ok and it's a shining beacon in comparison to the state of its adjoining streets and nearby streets.

A lot of tourists come from similar places, graffiti and liquid/food spillages on busy streets are not shocking or depressing. Tourists are perhaps not as sheltered and precious as some (want to) think.

Permabear

This post has been deleted.

acai berry

Clery's - [and the GPO] - really held that street together. Clery's is such a sad loss!

corner of hells

acai berry wrote: »

Clery's - [and the GPO] - really held that street together. Such a sad loss!

Don't tell me the GPO is gone now ?

acai berry

corner of hells wrote: »

Don't tell me the GPO is gone now ?

Sorry for confusing post. Maybe I should edit the original. Will do. I know you're just joking, corner of hells.

AMKC

EdgeCase wrote: »

The big issue was they picked the wrong paving colour. They’ll always look bad as it’s a single colour, grey.

The same mistake was repeated on the repaving of grafton street.

I aagre its awful dull the paving and has no character whatsoever. Only advantage being women can now walk on Grafton street while wearing heels safely without having to worry about twisting on angle or breakin a foot or worse falling.

acai berry wrote: »

Clery's - [and the GPO] - really held that street together. Clery's is such a sad loss!

I agree Cleary's was a terrible loss unfortunately it did not move with the times. It was stuck in the past and did not have enough customers coming to sustain its business so its now gone.

I like the idea of an Ikea store there. Sure its not Cleary's but its not a bad idea and could do well there.

c68zapdsm5i1ru

Years of ignorant co. councillors making ignorant decisions totally based on money have ruined many parts of Dublin, O'Connell Street included.

BoJack Horseman

Using "like" as punctuation.

Why?

corner of hells

AMKC wrote: »

I aagre its awful dull the paving and has no character whatsoever. Only advantage being women can now walk on Grafton street while wearing heels safely without having to worry about twisting on angle or breakin a foot or worse falling.



I agree Cleary's was a terrible loss unfortunately it did not move with the times. It was stuck in the past and did not have enough customers coming to sustain its business so its now gone.

I like the idea of an Ikea store there sure its not Cleary's but its not a bad idea and could do well there.

I work near Clerys , I think the plans for it included bars , cafes and various retail units along with a rooftop development.

TallGlass

Dunno if anyone mentioned it, but Grand Canal Square is literally cover in ****, bird ****. It's disgusting and the fúcking stains all over the place. The tourists must think we don't clean anything.

acai berry

I think it would take a leader with a huge ego, such as the Donald Trump, who would look on O'Connell Street as a reflection of himself, to do anything about it. Things were looking promising a few years ago, when they changed the road surfaces and planted the trees. They seem to have dropped the reins since then.

seachto7

TallGlass wrote: »

Dunno if anyone mentioned it, but Grand Canal Square is literally cover in ****, bird ****. It's disgusting and the fúcking stains all over the place. The tourists must think we don't clean anything.

Can't understand why they didn't build a park here the first day instead.

TallGlass

seachto7 wrote: »

Can't understand why they didn't build a park here the first day instead.

Tell you why.


Development company. Less green space the better for them, cost them less to look after it.


What amazes me, is they want to do this at college green. They should do as you said at college green, put some grass down and a few trees.

murpho999

murpho999 wrote: »

These are the typical anti Dublin comments left on these type of threads by people who are probably never in Dublin.

I'm rarely in Dublin. That's certainly true, I haven't previously posted to the thread, and I can add that O'Connell St, was manky dirty when I was up there recently.

There shouldn't be a requirement for me to live in Dublin, before I can make such an observation. Dublin is the capital, not some third tier manufacturing city. Considering the amount of money spent on "beautifying" the place, surely they can clean the footpaths without my shoes sticking to the ground... and collecting of the rubbish.

People should stop giving the impression that it's dangerous or dominated by junkies when it's not the case.

Would you spend any amount of time there during the late evening or night? I've been warned by friends living in Dublin. Are they wrong to suggest that it is dangerous>?

NiceFella

Grafton Street ain't too good either. Taking my daily left turn up onto it last week and I thought I took a wrong turn and landed in slum India.

Ger Roe

I used to be a Dub citizen, but have been living further south for over 25 years now. I have to say anytime I am in the city centre area now, I come home angry. The place is a mess - dirty and tacky, absolutely no doubt about it.

Apart from the general cleanup aspects being debated here, there is hardly a square meter of footpath anywhere in the city that doesn't have an uneven heap of tar beat into it with a shovel. The pedestrian surface of O'Connell bridge is a trip hazard of moon landscape proportions.

It all looks like DCC and the Gardai have given up and we don't have any environmental policies to implement, and no laws are being enforced.

But, sure the tourist stats are up apparently, and that's all that matters. If they come to see us when we do F all about encouraging them, sure why would we bother trying to improve anything?

Personally, I don't go to the city much these days, nothing there to attract me in and I don't like the general vibe there anyway. I am over 50 yrs old and can remember that the debates about how to improve the situation have been going on since forever. The problem is nothing has been done and the situation is now much worse that it ever was.

nullzero

Tis Yourself? wrote: »

Some day a real rain will come and wash all the scum off the streets.

Lugs Branigan 2.0

wakka12

Ger Roe wrote: »

I used to be a Dub citizen, but have been living further south for over 25 years now. I have to say anytime I am in the city centre area now, I come home angry. The place is a mess - dirty and tacky, absolutely no doubt about it.

Apart from the general cleanup aspects being debated here, there is hardly a square meter of footpath anywhere in the city that doesn't have an uneven heap of tar beat into it with a shovel. The pedestrian surface of O'Connell bridge is a trip hazard of moon landscape proportions.

It all looks like DCC and the Gardai have given up and we don't have any environmental policies to implement, and no laws are being enforced.

But, sure the tourist stats are up apparently, and that's all that matters. If they come to see us when we do F all about encouraging them, sure why would we bother trying to improve anything?

Personally, I don't go to the city much these days, nothing there to attract me in and I don't like the general vibe there anyway. I am over 50 yrs old and can remember that the debates about how to improve the situation have been going on since forever. The problem is nothing has been done and the situation is now much worse that it ever was.

I don't get why they can't just send a letter to all the businesses on Oconnell Street and tell them what type of signage is permitted on it, its an architectural conservation area (lol) so they could easily order businesses to change their shopfronts to be in compliance with it.So what gives? Why have they never done it? Im only 22 but as long as I can remember there has always always always been discussions to improve the street and make it a world class plaza but as you say nothing has changed or if anything its declined

I wonder do nice places like ranelagh have enforced rules about signage or is it just chance?

markpb

Deleted User wrote: »

Would you spend any amount of time there during the late evening or night? I've been warned by friends living in Dublin. Are they wrong to suggest that it is dangerous>?

I do spend time there in the evenings and I'd agree that the junkie element makes it unpleasant but not dangerous.

Personally I think the street lighting for pedestrians is very poor, making it feel more dingy and unsafe than it really is. Sodium lights do nothing for cities and on a lot of streets, they're patchy in coverage or above the tree line making them even worse.

A good cleaning would go a long way though.

fritzelly

Used to work in this area many years ago
https://www.google.ie/maps/@51.2697015,0.1931343,3a,75y,357.54h,77.15t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sbt7f6CaiGi6FEmB-nqUsxg!2e0!7i13312!8i6656

Every shop has to follow the local council rules on signage etc - you can probably spot what I mean bar the odd minor exception if you move along the road

wakka12

markpb wrote: »

I do spend time there in the evenings and I'd agree that the junkie element makes it unpleasant but not dangerous.

Personally I think the street lighting for pedestrians is very poor, making it feel more dingy and unsafe than it really is. Sodium lights do nothing for cities and on a lot of streets, they're patchy in coverage or above the tree line making them even worse.

A good cleaning would go a long way though.

Yeh its not dangerous at all. But it has an anti social 'vibe', its because everythings dirty and run down and all the junkies, don't be afraid to walk around though there at evening, I do it often, not had the slightest sniff of trouble

wakka12

fritzelly wrote: »

Used to work in this area many years ago
https://www.google.ie/maps/@51.2697015,0.1931343,3a,75y,357.54h,77.15t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sbt7f6CaiGi6FEmB-nqUsxg!2e0!7i13312!8i6656

Every shop has to follow the local council rules on signage etc - you can probably spot what I mean bar the odd minor exception if you move along the road

What an almost fairy tale like town. Just gorgeous
I wish ireland had random little towns like that across the country like england

kupus

harr wrote: »

Plenty of scum in Spain as well...but I have seen them ran off it, surely on our capitals Main Street the guards should have a zero tolerance approach..

Cops are able to kick the livin ****e out of people if they need to in a lot of other places.

Cops in ireland would be sued, fired and put out to hang by other vested interest groups.

From the outside it looks like criminals have more rights than their victims

Ubbquittious

Not too long of a wait now

GarIT

kupus wrote: »

Cops are able to kick the livin ****e out of people if they need to in a lot of other places.

Cops in ireland would be sued, fired and put out to hang by other vested interest groups.

From the outside it looks like criminals have more rights than their victims

When I was a young teenager only 10-15 years ago I was told by my parents not to piss of a garda or they would kick the ****e out of you and it. I'm not sure if I believed it at the time but shortly after there was the older teenager, maybe 17 or 18 who was arrested for being drunk or something but arrived at a police station mostly healthy and died in his cell of injuries typical of having the ****e kicked out of you but none of the gardaí admitted to knowing what happened. That certainly made me behave a bit more especially near gardaí. I think I was told the same about spanish police too and then there was an attack on Irish tourists in a spanish bar that they refused to leave. You didn't mess with them much then.

GarIT

GarIT wrote: »

When I was a young teenager only 10-15 years ago I was told by my parents not to piss of a garda or they would kick the ****e out of you and it. I'm not sure if I believed it at the time but shortly after there was the older teenager, maybe 17 or 18 who was arrested for being drunk or something but arrived at a police station mostly healthy and died in his cell of injuries typical of having the ****e kicked out of you but none of the gardaí admitted to knowing what happened. That certainly made me behave a bit more especially near gardaí. I think I was told the same about spanish police too and then there was an attack on Irish tourists in a spanish bar that they refused to leave. You didn't mess with them much then.

I still wouldn't mess with the Gardai, especially outside of the cities. I've heard enough stories of beatings to believe it still goes on.

As for Spain, their police can be rather brutal... Definitely wouldn't mess either level of them. But then I'd feel the same about the Police in France, or Germany.

Spanish Eyes

I blame the Dublin City Manager. Yes him, look him up. Owen Keegan. We are paying him a handsome salary to be the manager. Not working, but what are the sanctions? NONE.

If he had to come out of his pen and see life in Dublin as others see it, maybe things might change. But no.... nothing. He likes bikes you see. Nothing wrong with that but the whole city centre is a total mess. Even Grafton Street OMG.

City Managers should be obliged, no MADE to live in the City Centre as part of their remit instead of living outside the city ( as the current incumbent does) and having their subsidised meals in situ on Wood Quay.

I think the City Manager is not managing anything god help us.

Where do I complain lol. And SF is in control of the Councillors. Oh. My . God.

We are totally doomed.

stimpson

Ger Roe wrote: »

I used to be a Dub citizen, but have been living further south for over 25 years now. I have to say anytime I am in the city centre area now, I come home angry. The place is a mess - dirty and tacky, absolutely no doubt about it.

Apart from the general cleanup aspects being debated here, there is hardly a square meter of footpath anywhere in the city that doesn't have an uneven heap of tar beat into it with a shovel. The pedestrian surface of O'Connell bridge is a trip hazard of moon landscape proportions.

It all looks like DCC and the Gardai have given up and we don't have any environmental policies to implement, and no laws are being enforced.

But, sure the tourist stats are up apparently, and that's all that matters. If they come to see us when we do F all about encouraging them, sure why would we bother trying to improve anything?

Personally, I don't go to the city much these days, nothing there to attract me in and I don't like the general vibe there anyway. I am over 50 yrs old and can remember that the debates about how to improve the situation have been going on since forever. The problem is nothing has been done and the situation is now much worse that it ever was.

Not to mention the lack of an Alternative music radio station...

fritzelly

Spanish Eyes wrote: »

I blame the Dublin City Manager. Yes him, look him up. Owen Keegan. We are paying him a handsome salary to be the manager. Not working, but what are the sanctions? NONE.

If he had to come out of his pen and see life in Dublin as others see it, maybe things might change. But no.... nothing. He likes bikes you see. Nothing wrong with that but the whole city centre is a total mess. Even Grafton Street OMG.

City Managers should be obliged, no MADE to live in the City Centre as part of their remit instead of living outside the city ( as the current incumbent does) and having their subsidised meals in situ on Wood Quay.

I think the City Manager is not managing anything god help us.

Where do I complain lol. And SF is in control of the Councillors. Oh. My . God.

We are totally doomed.

The city could be such a lovely place if only for a few things. Why spend a fortune on the boardwalk only to let it be overrun by drunks,beggars and addicts.
Beggars are really the bane of the city - do we really need beggars all over the place? No one in Ireland cannot claim benefit, even homeless get full benefits. Seriously no excuse for it except as a business (and don't need to go there)
City manager - anything but in name, got no good words for any of them dictating how the city is run. Got no frigging clue bar what they are being told by the minimum wage guys
Only have to go to a few European cities to see the difference.

kupus

GarIT wrote: »

When I was a young teenager only 10-15 years ago I was told by my parents not to piss of a garda or they would kick the ****e out of you and it. I'm not sure if I believed it at the time but shortly after there was the older teenager, maybe 17 or 18 who was arrested for being drunk or something but arrived at a police station mostly healthy and died in his cell of injuries typical of having the ****e kicked out of you but none of the gardaí admitted to knowing what happened. That certainly made me behave a bit more especially near gardaí. I think I was told the same about spanish police too and then there was an attack on Irish tourists in a spanish bar that they refused to leave. You didn't mess with them much then.

Here is the thing gar. You learned to behave, because your parents taught you how up to behave.
Scum parents would tell you to **** de pigs.

Klaz
Irish cops look about as menacing as an soft and dripping wet apple pie.

You have been around if i remember correctly.
Can you visualise any irish cop that you meet, walking around on the streets of moscow at 2am to break up a chechen wedding gone wrong. Because i cant.

I dont want to sound like im having a dig at irish cops. Its a job i would not want to do especially when your two hands are tied behind your back so that your ahole is left open for scum and their lawyers to royalty screw you from behind.

fritzelly

Lovely city
https://www.dublinlive.ie/news/teenagers-shaken-after-being-mugged-14907262
This being the mild side, time to rise up

ANDREWMUFC

Outlaw Pete wrote: »

Few pics of what the OP is referring to........

Spunk all over the footpaths

Chorcai

It's mortifying walking down O'C Street, with the how'yas roaring at each other, the drunks, the junkies ****ting n pissing everywhere and the state of the monuments. I cringe every time.

beauf

murpho999 wrote: »

These are the typical anti Dublin comments left on these type of threads by people who are probably never in Dublin.

O'Connell Street can certainly do with improvements but walk down it any day and it's full of tourists, shoppers, workers and students etc.

It's vibrant and busy.

People should stop giving the impression that it's dangerous or dominated by junkies when it's not the case.

It maybe busy but it is manky. Feels like the shabbier parts of a UK city. Maybe not dominating it, but there are a lot of junkies . Doesn't feel like a a main street in a Capital. Its one of the dirtiest areas in the city.

dfx-

wakka12 wrote: »

Yeh its not dangerous at all. But it has an anti social 'vibe', its because everythings dirty and run down and all the junkies, don't be afraid to walk around though there at evening, I do it often, not had the slightest sniff of trouble

But this is not something you can work with. The fear and bad reputation of O'Connell Street far exceeds what it is actually like being there. If anything Westmoreland St is a far scruffier and more dangerous place to walk/wait.

Chorcai wrote: »

It's mortifying walking down O'C Street, with the how'yas roaring at each other, the drunks, the junkies ****ting n pissing everywhere and the state of the monuments. I cringe every time.

Why is it mortifying that strangers are roaring at each other? Why is the sight of drunks mortifying?

beauf wrote: »

It maybe busy but it is manky. Feels like the shabbier parts of a UK city. Maybe not dominating it, but there are a lot of junkies . Doesn't feel like a a main street in a Capital. Its one of the dirtiest areas in the city.

The centre of a lot of UK towns and cities are pedestrianised rundown ghost towns. The death of the high street here is constantly mentioned. O'Connell Street by comparison is a busy centre of activity..

scopper

Important to remember that it's also the first street most tourists land on, especially from the airport. That's our first impression!

beauf

I think you are normalising manky as normal.

It has deteriorated massively in the last 10yrs.
It wasn't starting from a high point either.

wakka12

dfx- wrote: »

But this is not something you can work with. The fear and bad reputation of O'Connell Street far exceeds what it is actually like being there. If anything Westmoreland St is a far scruffier and more dangerous place to walk/wait.



Why is it mortifying that strangers are roaring at each other? Why is the sight of drunks mortifying?



The centre of a lot of UK towns and cities are pedestrianised rundown ghost towns. The death of the high street here is constantly mentioned. O'Connell Street by comparison is a busy centre of activity..

Yes,there are indeed worse places ,but I think we can aim higher don't you think?. Dublin is a small and wealthy city, and its the only boulevard in the city and its main street(apparently), what would be so bad about making it a beautiful street, and the kicker is that it could be so easily achieved with a unified vision by those in power and the nerve to step on a few toes for the greater good

And I don't think its a stretch to say drunkards and junkies shouting at each other is mortifying, its not civilised behaviour, especially not in daylight hours on a mainstreet that doesnt even have bars or pubs on it

_Dara_

dfx- wrote: »

O'Connell Street is ok and it's a shining beacon in comparison to the state of its adjoining streets and nearby streets.

A lot of tourists come from similar places, graffiti and liquid/food spillages on busy streets are not shocking or depressing. Tourists are perhaps not as sheltered and precious as some (want to) think.

+1

There’s been shabby city centre places in pretty much every city I’ve visited.

shakeitoff

TBH every city has its horrible spots. Vancouver has beautiful scenery and very nice city suburbs but the main street is a kip and one of the main tourist areas is so close to the literal spawning ground of the walking dead

Bordeaux is a lovely city but the main street is full of tacky souvenir shops and general griminess.

_Dara_

shakeitoff wrote: »

TBH every city has its horrible spots. Vancouver has beautiful scenery and very nice city suburbs but the main street is a kip and one of the main tourist areas is so close to the literal spawning ground of the walking dead

Bordeaux is a lovely city but the main street is full of tacky souvenir shops and general griminess.

Wenceslas Square in Prague too. And Berlin is a study in shabbiness.

beauf

Basically ye all are happy with the state of it.

Wow.

Chorcai

dfx- wrote: »

Why is it mortifying that strangers are roaring at each other? Why is the sight of drunks mortifying?

What should be a really nice street, with monuments celebrating Ireland and showing our history, is instead an embarrassment! You have tourists or fellow Irish people looking at for example the Daniel O'Connell monument and Jacinta roaring at Anto to cum'ere, or the walking dead smelling of pi$$, or passed out on any given section of the street. Its embarrassing walking down it.

wonderwall900

n!ghtmancometh wrote: »

It isn't perfect, but to describe is it as "a cesspit full of drug addicts" is ridiculous,

You're clearly not on it enough.

A cesspit full of drug addicts is exactly what it is.

corner of hells

wonderwall900 wrote: »

You're clearly not on it enough.

A cesspit full of drug addicts is exactly what it is.

I work off it , it's definitely not a cesspit full of addicts

wonderwall900

corner of hells wrote: »

I work off it , it's definitely not a cesspit full of addicts

I'm on it 4-5 times a week (unfortunately) so we'll agree to differ.

You clearly have lower standards to what is acceptable on the main street of a capital city than I do.

corner of hells

wonderwall900 wrote: »

I'm on it 4-5 times a week (unfortunately) so we'll agree to differ.

You clearly have lower standards to what is acceptable on the main street of a capital city than I do.

Maybe so , what I will give you is that we need to take a serious look at the type of businesses and shop fronts that we allowed in the street and maybe not look so much at individual groups.

It's not that long ago that a resident from one of the original businesses was still living in the street and there still exists one of the original houses not destroyed in 1916.

acai berry

The Gresham is ony a shadow of what it used to be. There's really no nice place for meeting people, especially visitors coming from the Airport, on O'Connell Street.