Cork City - anti social behaviour etc... what's being done?

The issue isn't the supposedly "liberal leftie" government but the fact that Ireland, as a nation and a society, is pathologically unable to see any plan through to its logical conclusion, plan ahead, or is willing to put its money where its mouth is! This is independent of whichever political flavor you look at. You've got people calling for a hardline approach to antisocial behavior, but at the same time unwilling to spend even a single cent for the required increase in the number of gardaí, the necessary equipment, or the increase in prison space that would need to go along with such a hardline approach. On the other end of the spectrum, you've got people who advocate for a softie-softie approach focusing on rehabilitation and education, yet those very same voices will decry any tax increase to fund those measures and will often even be unwilling to accept rehab facilities or injection rooms within even the same time zone as their home.

This goes beyond law enforcement. It affects defense, infrastructure, education, the healthcare system. There is a consistent inability to bring any project through to its conclusion, or to even give it the proper funding. Ireland wants to be neutral but is unwilling to invest in a military strong enough to enforce that neutrality if needed. It wants to move to an NHS style system but is unwilling to take the necessary drastic steps needed for that, leaving us with a poorly implemented botch job called the HSE. The government wants to reduce Ireland's carbon footprint but is unwilling to invest into public transport to such a degree that it would have an effect. In fact, it is not even willing to stand up to NIMBYs or special interest groups that are doing their best to sabotage these projects. And don't even get me started on housing!

Add a completely disinterested and apathetic city council, both in its elected member and it's no wonder why Cork is the way it is. This isn't a Cork issue, it's not even a left-vs-right issue, it's an issue that Ireland as a whole is unwilling to commit itself and walk the walk!

Honestly, I'm with you. I'm normally more at home on the left side of the political spectrum in a lot of my views, but I've gotten to the point where I'd welcome even a very hardline law and order approach if it was backed up by the needed funds!

Regarding your social welfare comments, once again, I'm with you: spend smarter, not more! But it's not just an issue of social welfare spending alone. Infrastructure planning is social welfare, urban design is social welfare, education is social welfare and yes, even public security is social welfare. All of these are connected and should be approached as such. The silo approach that's been taken so far is a recipe for disaster.

Feck all is what they're doing. There's a general apathy in the council for anything that doesn't directly help a councilor get re-elected or gets the council CEO another front-page story & positive coverage! The few councilors that do try to get something done, mostly, it has to be said the likes of Lorna Bogue, Fiona Ryan and other left-wing representatives, are bogged down and stonewalled. I think it's time to replace "Statio Bene Fida Carinis" with "Don't rock the boat" as the city motto.

as far as i am aware, that is much more to do with the fact that they generally gut houses completely between tenants

Same thing. But also these houses can sit boarded up for years before they're touched by the council.

Ireland's population has increased from 3.8m in 2000 to almost 5.1m today. An increase of 34%.

None of our infrastructure, health, Justice, housing etc. has kept pace with, or planned for this. A very poor reflection on the abilities of our local and central government planners.

But I suppose as they say you get the government (local & national) that you vote for!

The commonly quoted cost being bandied around of keeping a prisoner locked up (circ €100k in mountjoy) is not wrong, but is more than a little misleading and used to promote certain positions.

Without going into a full blown economics or accountancy lecture, the €100k above represents the average cost of keeping someone locked up and includes all the fixed costs such as the IPS HQ in Longford and costs in the Dept of Justice among others.

In actual fact the cost of putting 1 more individual in prison for a year (the marginal cost) amounts to little more than food and clothing. Hundreds of euro as opposed to the hundreds of thousands quoted. All the other costs are there anyway.

End of lecture😁

But prisons are full. You can't put more prisoners in a full prison for the cost of food and clothing, can you?

If there was lots of capacity in the system, your claim would make sense.

The reality is if we want to lock more people away, it means building, maintaining and staffing more prisons. That doesn't come cheap.

it isnt the same thing. im sure at times the fixtures and fittings are 'upgraded' for actual needs like energy efficiency, but it is generally done just to appease new tenants, it has almost nothing to do with the planning department or building control.

I'd put that down to in-ears if I'm honest. With many modern truly wireless earbuds (AirPods Pro, Google Pixel Buds, etc) you have to look very closely to see if people have them in. Got surprised by that a few times, with people walking past me and talking, with me only seeing the earbuds when I'm next to them.

Ands they're not that expensive anymore either, basic models are available for around 50-60€

To be fair, I feel like that area (Coal Quay, Paul Street) has been the worst affected by this. It was always a bit of a dogy area, but I don't remember it being nearly as bad before the pandemic as it has been in recent years. Granted, Patrick Street and Oliver Plunkett Street have suffered somewhat, but I feel like the Coal Quay area has really become an epicenter for antisocial activity since 2020/2021. A colleague of mine mentioned something that has really struck with me in that regard:

According to him, the high number of restaurants and clubs in the area, with their security staff and the resulting footfall, caused quite a bit of exposure and social pressure that kept the worst of the addicts away. At the same time, the number of derelict buildings and sites in the area, particularly on North Street, gave these addicts something to retreat into. Then came the lockdowns. Restaurants et al were closed and people stopped going out, removing that exposure and pressure. Suddenly, all those who had been pushed into these areas could come out without too much in the way of control. When the restaurants etc. started reopening and the restrictions disappeared, footfall increased again. and the problem started becoming more obvious.

At the same time, a number of the derelict buildings in the area started seeing redevelopment. There are student apartments going up on North Main Street, an apartment building was put on a formerly derelict site on Kyle Street, and that "Bermuda Triangle" up on Kyrl's Quay, outside the garda station, has been turned into some sort of community garden/events venue. So now, footfall is back to its pre-pandemic levels, a lot of the retreats that addicts would have used to get away from the crowds are being redeveloped and, from my observations, many of these addicts are now so far gone that they don't really care about anything anymore.

Local elections are due soon. It needs to be specifically brought up at the door, with no waffle accepted from the candidates! It might be the only way to get CCC to actually do their job.

Spent (misspent 😎) a very happy childhood and youth down the Glen. A real adventure land for kids back then.

Haven't been there for years, I'm sure that it must have changed a lot!

It's fantastic. I only discovered it during covid and I'm walking distance from it.

You'd never think you're still in the city!

It was known as Gouldings Glen having been bequeathed to the city by the Goulding family for the enjoyment of the people of Cork. I had a look on Google maps. It has had a lot of development on the peripheries, its probably a quarter the size that it used to be.

Not much to do with anti social behaviour, I know!

Awful awful news. That could have been any of our families. Just a completely random attack, beating someone effectively to death on the street.

Apart from the fact that it happened in a house in the Glen, not on the street, and doesn't appear to be random.

Dead link sporina. What was it?

Don't know, but the article linked was about an older man assaulted in a premises in the Glen.