Anti social behavior Balbriggan?

LeoB

koutoubia wrote: »

I have been reading this thread and would like to make a contribution.
I am gonna say something in this first paragraph that I heard many years back.
'Fingal County Council and successive govts over the last few years have continually taken a dump on Balbriggan from a height'

I cant remember who said it or when but its a very sad truth.


I have now spent more then half my life here.
I have just about raised a family here and played my part.
I have made what I hope will be now lifelong friends with people who grew up here and are decent good people to their very core.
However when FCC view Balbriggan and its surrounds as building site and how many people can they fit in regardless of nation,creed or whatever else and not improve infrastructre, policing and so forth it will only lead down one path.Look at the recent uproar about the planned extension of castlelands...More housing with little or no infrastructure. And dont try and spin me the swimming pool and such line. That spin has being going on as long as I am living here if not longer.
If FCC and so on are so fixated on it why dont or rather why didnt they build before they built thousands of extra homes?

Its not just the 'new' people that are leading to the area's downhill spiral.
I live very close to a school.....some regulars here will know where I am .....and when its school time and for whatever reason I am home I try not to look out the window. If the kids follow the parents lead we are gonna have a very broken society very very quickly.

With relation to the poster who is standing up for Balbriggan fair play. Yes its a great place however I urge you to take off your rose tinted glasses for a little bit.
Drugs are rife in Balbriggan. Lots of teenagers hang around with some of them as Pat Kenny says 'Ner do Wells'. Even if we get 100 guards tommorrow ,as mentioned earlier, while we operate with a severley disjointed juducial system it simply wont get any better. There is no fear when caught.I have seen it first hand.

Petty Crime is simply now a fact of life in some areas.
You leave a door unlocked, something that may or may not be of worth on view in your car etc at your peril.


As for LeoB stating that its no worse then Skerries or Malahide.....Come on Leo you know that thats not right!!!

Dont get me wrong I love living here and have never regretted coming out but my eyes are also wide open to the deep deep problems that exist and are growing.

Remember that first paragraph .....
The first posters form your local TD's (remember them? The people who come around every few promising you the world!) and their parties have gone up. How about asking them about where they were when playgrounds are getting destroyed or dogs and cats are getting kicked to death.

The area is full of great people but sadly outnumbered by a growing army of scrotes!

Excellent post and good points.

Will deal with my comment above fiirst. Drug dealing is quite open in Malahide,. I was stunned at what was going on on Main streets of Malahide but a local filled me in. Personally I havent seen this in Balbriggan, but I saw it last week in 2 rural towns, 1 in Sligo and the other in Roscommon.

The general thrust of what people are saying is Balbriggan is not much worse than other Fingal towns and it isnt. As you point out gangs hang around and yes a few are nasty. I do think a visible presence of Gardái is badly needed. A lot of the same kids are not bad kids but certainly need a bit of guidance (and an odd slap from parents). There is no fear from the kids so why not hold parents responsible? We might see an improvment if parents were forced to pay for any "damage" their kids do. As you point out if some follow their parents lead we are in trouble down the road which is why we need urgent action sooner rather than later.

As you say the lack of decent infrastructure is a serious problem. There are great clubs around the town like other towns. However getting people involved is a serious problem. Coaches and mentors are under such scrutiny it is putting people off getting involved. As I heard someone say recently "sidelines are full of people waiting for a coach to do something wrong". This is having a major impact

Petty crime is rife all over Ireland. Nothing can left down for a minute.

While all your points and observations are valid I stand by the fact it is very good town. Sadly Balbriggan, Lusk and Rush have been badly let down by Fingal CC and Dublin CC before that. All are working class areas who have had houses dumped all over the place with little amenities. This would not be allowed happen in Malahide or Skerries, yet the people who allow it happen, Fingal CC are quite happy for it to happen in Balbriggan, Lusk and Rush.

Anyway I think Balbriggan is a decent town

LeoB

kaahooters wrote: »

so, theirs a lot of "we should do this and that and fix things".

have any f you tried to start up youth clubs? joined the local councils?

nothing but "its the governments fault", what have you done to help? complain on a niche internet forum?

if your not going to set an example for the kids you fear about how they'll turn out in 10 - 15 years, who is?

and im pretty sure youll all come back and say "its not my place" "i dont have time" ect ect.

This year 2019 is probably the first since 1974/5 I have not been involved in my local GAA club as player/coach/mentor/committee member.

Why? Hard to answer but a few things The PC brigade are everywhere.. There are so many procedures to follow now Garda vetting, coaching courses etc. all this can be off putting for someone who just want to coach kids. I understand the need to keep everyone safe but it has gone too far. The amount of crap people have to put up from parents who just love to bitch on the sidelines about the people coaching their kids for nothing, giving up family time, taking time off work etc. I didnt realise it was so bad until I went to a few game I was not involved in.

There is so much for kids to do now. They have so much choice, TVs and games consoles rule the way with their mobile phones. A town the size of Balbriggan struggling to field some teams because parents in some cases prefer to stay in bed rather than get their kids out to a match, that is everywhere.

I have spoke to a few people who wont get involved because of what I only touch on here. That is sad because Balbriggan over the years has produced so many good players at various sports. Balbriggan also has some great managers and coaches in many sports and full of other activities also. Despite the core of people who do help more have to get behind the clubs and organizations

minikin

I’ve been accused of wearing rose tinted glasses in my ivory tower.
(Well, the walls are very bright)

Nothing could be further from the truth, I’m experiencing my fifth decade in the town, have family going back generations in the town... so I’ve first hand experience of pre and post expansion Balbriggan.

Some folks seem to be getting upset by someone with a positive outlook...
nope, not allowed disagree with the dominant social media line. I’ve heard Balbriggan is a kip and that seems to be a popular point of view, so I’m going to agree with that because... because... because... the mob is never wrong.

A town has never assaulted anyone.
A town does not deal drugs.
A town has never burgled your vhs player.
So why on earth would you label a town as a kip?

It’s the most misdirected ill-thought out nonsense I’ve heard in a long time.

LeoB

Just to add. I was at rugby with my son on Sunday last, he plays with The stingers, a special needs tag rugby team. It is based in Balbriggan RFC up in Balrothery. What is going on there is just amazing, a great tribute to the kind of people around Balbriggan A credit to the town, all organised and ran by locals.

When there we stayed on to watch the U/18s play and if you were looking for ambassadors and role models for Balbriggan there were 20 young lads you would be proud of. That is just the rugby club. Take the soccer, GAA cricket and other clubs all doing great work for our young people and every one of the clubs could probably do with extra help. Just like every other town, no different

kaahooters

LeoB wrote: »

Just to add. I was at rugby with my son on Sunday last, he plays with The stingers, a special needs tag rugby team. It is based in Balbriggan RFC up in Balrothery. What is going on there is just amazing, a great tribute to the kind of people around Balbriggan A credit to the town, all organised and ran by locals.

When there we stayed on to watch the U/18s play and if you were looking for ambassadors and role models for Balbriggan there were 20 young lads you would be proud of. That is just the rugby club. Take the soccer, GAA cricket and other clubs all doing great work for our young people and every one of the clubs could probably do with extra help. Just like every other town, no different

People will only focus on the negative, even though crime rates are down ( might be due to not reporting).
A lot of this can be tracked to Facebook group social media promoting the stories.

Get out, engage and stop using Facebook group social media.