Another random person hospitalized after unprovoked attack in Dublin city center

Fully understand the position outlined here, there is no OT for nornal policing so it doesnt get done. However I suppose what people find it hard to understand is why is there such a limited presence of Gardai during normal policing work during their nornal shift? Is it how Gardai are tied up doing admin work during there normal 48 hour week so actually have no time to perform the more visible policing role?

People grossly overestimate the amount of Gardai that are working at any one time. There are four uniformed units, only one unit is working at any one time meaning 3/4 of the uniformed force is either on rest days or about to start a shift later that day.

95% of the Gardai you see working at Croke Park etc. at a match are coming from those non working units. It isn't a case of Croke Park or a normal shift working the city centre like people seem think it is. It's Croke Park or being off, they wouldn't be working anyway.

They're not working at Croke Park to avoid the city centre, most of them aren't stationed there so would never be there regardless. The organisation has started offering these Gardai to work in the city on overtime recently but that hasn't always been the case. Gardai have always worked matches, concerts etc. because that was the only overtime available, paid for by the GAA, concert promoters etc.

I think people may be under the illusion the organisation was willing to pay Gardai to work the city centre on their days off, this was never an option until recently and once these incidents stop being news, the overtime will be swiftly removed.

People think because there are Gardai at Croke Park that there are loads, not realising that these are Gardai on their days off and that they're from every station from Balbriggan to Shankill and beyond Dublin. These individual stations however are lucky if they can field one car for a shift.

The major stations, Blanchardstown, Finglas etc. might have two cars out to patrol and answer calls but nearly every other station has one and they don't even have that in some cases.

As I said, there are more people working in your local Insomnia etc. than Gardai in your local station. People seem to think stations are like a Borb cube and more Gardai can just materialise from the hivemind. If there is one car for a station and it's busy, it's busy. Calls, no matter what they are, will be left waiting. The same way as an ambulance is busy until it's not.

Where was ignoring work mentioned?

Well this clearly sets out the nub of the problem and should be the hot topic of discussion on social media, the traditional media and on the door step come election time. Essentially the Gardai are criminally inder staffed/resourced to the point that they cannot provide a basic police service to protect the safety of Irish residents.

The focus at the moment is on the effect rather than the cause of the problem allowing the Govt completely off the hook to the pont that the Minister for Justice cam swan around flanked by a bunch of Gardai (possibly drawn from different parts of the country and on OT) to perpetuate a fraud that the streets are safe and the Gardai have the tools to keep it that way.

Yeah I understand that but as I've stated the gards are both victims and beneficiaries of the PS clusterfcuk.

In my job if we lose staff or get more work dumped on the team, there is no excuse. There's 2 options, get the work done regardless or get fired.

This doesn't exist in the PS so gards are happy enough with the setup because the work just sits there, they do their alloted hours and clock off. They opt into OT when they want.

You mean like the private sector?

Yeah it needs to be run like a business but we know its not as it PS. Look we'll never agree here. You see the average gard as a victim.

I work in the private sector were unpaid OT is par for the course.

I don't see the gards as victims. The fact they cam just disregard backlogs amd clock off is far from victim. The people on the backlog are the real victims.

I don't know where you're getting your figures from.

They're definitely not informed well enough regarding the actual effects it has in practical terms. It's easy to gloss over 'Garda numbers declining' as a headline but when people hear there is no patrol car for their entire town it's a bit easier to comprehend.

In fairness the media publish stories about declining Garda numbers, issues with recruitment etc. regularly so the information is getting out there but people don't listen or grasp what it means. Then you've posters like Sugar Rush telling us we've more police than most European countries and it verifiable nonsense so there's an element of 'fingers in the ears, lalalala' going on too.

Some info regarding numbers which may illustrate the point better. Our ratio has declined since this as per the Irish Times article above, it's now 277.

That’s interesting that you say the Dutch police is solid , it’s beset by multiple scandals including racial profiling , racism , corruption, infiltration by criminal gangs , violence and a shortage of officers along with an increase in firearm incident’s.

In much of Amsterdam yes, you're offered drugs every 30 seconds and there are all kinds of dodgy folk everywhere. Much of the city is lovely though and peaceful, but I'd say the same about Dublin. I would generally go out shopping and restaurants and bars in D2 area and it all seems quite pleasant to me.

Lots of dodgy stuff happens in Amsterdam

recent case in Amsterdam of a tourist stabbed multiple times in a random attack, sounds like good old dublin to me.

1289 muggings in 2019. Would dublin have anywhere near that many I wonder?

Not excusing Dublin, just making the point that Amsterdam isn't some safe paradise compared to Dublin as you seem to be saying.

I used visit friends in Amsterdam a good bit , I’ve friends there one who is an Ethiopian/ Israeli his wife is Dutch .

I always found it’s no different to Dublin , good and bad elements, his wife thought Dublin was much more relaxed and thought Dublin is more less the same as Amsterdam both having lived here for about 2 years.

When I say visited , it wouldn’t be tourist type visits and in all I’ve there about 8 or 9 times .

No the gardai will be out in force that day to make sure the tourists dont see the real dublin.

What the tourists will see is a party town, totally safe, with police all over the place keeping the safe city safe. If there are any scrotes around they van full of gardai will be straight over to make sure they dont get a chance to cause trouble.

You know kind of like it should actually be even if we werent under the worlds spotlights.

In 2019 there were 1.9 million American visitors to Ireland, I would imagine at least 40% of them spent some time in Dublin. I don't recall any being attacked apart from the recent high profile cases.