By 11.30am on a Wednesday, Alan Cooke, a jeweller based in Dublin’s Temple Bar, has already had to call the Garda. This time it’s to report two young men who appear to be smoking crack cocaine right outside his shop.
“The place has turned into a right kip, and the reason is drugs. Drugs are everywhere.”
Mr Cooke has worked since 1978 in the business established in 1952 by his father, John J Cooke, on Fownes Street, and he says he has never seen such extreme levels of drug dealing, theft, vandalism and violence.
“They’re only kids, but for around 18 months now, they’re going around all tooled up, all carrying knives. They have no fear, it’s mad what is going on.”
The trouble really started in mid-2021, he says, when gangs of youths were involved in rioting in the area around Grafton Street. At the time, Dublin City Council was endeavouring to pedestrianise streets in that area to make the most of outdoor dining opportunities during the Covid-19 pandemic.
They put a boom-box in the middle of the road and it’s like a zombie apocalypse. They suddenly come from everywhere to buy drugs and then they’re gone in five minutes
— Alan Cooke, jeweller based in Temple Bar
“What they did was, they cleaned out South William Street, South Anne Street and all that area up there when all that messing went on during Covid. That was all swept down here and it has stayed here ever since. Gangs floating around here of teenage kids selling drugs and fighting with each other.”
A standard routine is for a group of young men to arrive and announce their presence with loud music, much like an ice-cream van would, Mr Cooke says.
“They put a boom-box in the middle of the road and it’s like a zombie apocalypse. They suddenly come from everywhere to buy drugs and then they’re gone in five minutes – the box, the gang, and the junkies.”
[ Thirty years of Temple Bar: A cultural quarter or overblown drinking space?Opens in new window ]
Insufficient cameras
There is CCTV in the area, Mr Cooke says, but there are insufficient numbers of cameras. “On Paddy’s Day they put down a camera especially for one day, but they don’t leave it there. There should be signs everywhere saying ‘CCTV in operation’.
“I have hours of CCTV footage myself, I have letters over to the superintendent but it’s like beating your head off a brick wall. I’m not blaming the guards but this is supposed to be the tourist area of Dublin, it should be crawling with guards and you never see any of them.”
Just across the road, on the corner of Fownes Street and Cecilia Street, Niall Sabongi who owns the Seafood Cafe says the Garda presence in the area has dramatically reduced in the last 18 months.
“Since Covid the Garda presence just dropped off completely. We used to have a massive Garda presence and there was never any trouble and literally since Covid, gangs got used to hanging around the area and they haven’t been moved on since.”
You have young people sitting up on the window ledge here rolling joints, doing lines of cocaine right in front of people
— Alan Cooke, jeweller
Three attempts have been made to break into his restaurant in the last four months, he says. “They’ve smashed the windows trying to get in. Each windowpane is €1,200 to replace. I’ve been here since 2015 and I had not had one incident here, I never even had to call the guards, Now I have to call them every night, maybe six to eight times a night, and this is all during service, not in the middle of the night.
“You have young people sitting up on the window ledge here rolling joints, doing lines of cocaine right in front of people. We go out to try and move them on they’ll just tell us to eff off, but anyway I’m a restaurateur I’m not a bouncer.”
School holidays are the worst times for gangs fighting in the street, he says, and last summer there were occasions where staff had to lock the doors with customers inside. “It’s chaos three or four times a week during the summer. You start to dread it as it gets closer to schools finishing.”
‘Shooting up’
Luca De Marzio, a long-time resident of Temple Bar and owner of Rosa Madre restaurant on Crow Street, says the problems aren’t confined to the streets.
“I park in Fleet Street car park and the minute you enter the car park the problems start. It’s full of junkies on every single floor. Sometimes I have to go out past them with the kids. Starting from there going through the area you can see the dealers, and this is in the morning, you can see people shooting up.”
It also needs to be remembered that there are residents in Temple bar, he says. “I love the area, I lived here until two years ago for 15 years. People think it’s just a touristic area with hens and stags but there are residents here and it can be such a great area.”
Niall Coyne, owner of Bedford Stuy barbers on Cope Street, says the drug problem has also come to his front door.
These are just young lads but they’re carrying blades and there’s no control over it, and it seems to me since lockdown it’s just gone really, really bad
— Niall Coyne, owner of Bedford Stuy barbers
“I’ve had guys standing in my porch selling crack. They use this corner because they can see every angle. I saw a guy one day rooting in the corner and I went out and there’s little gaps in the old wood where they’re stashing it. I’ve been told to mind my own business outside my own shop.”
Mr Coyne is also calling for a greater Garda presence.
“I’m not blaming the guards, there’s just not enough of them and they can’t be everywhere. These are just young lads but they’re carrying blades and there’s no control over it, and it seems to me since a lockdown it’s just gone really, really bad. City centres always have an edge, but this is different. I don’t like saying this, and there are certain people in high places in this area who will deny it. That angers me because they must know. I know they know.”
Complaints
Martin Harte, chief executive of business group the Temple Bar Company, rejects this characterisation of the area.
“I’m not saying people haven’t had issues – this is a capital city – but is it widespread, and reflective of the area in general? Absolutely not.”
Drug dealing or taking can “create a sense of unease” that is greater than the actual threat, he says. “As the summer arrives, you will start to get complaints because you will see people sitting out drinking cans and smoking joints. It has happened every year for the last 20 years. It’s a perception thing a lot of the time. I won’t take away from somebody if they have issues, but it isn’t an unsafe place, and I think to portray it otherwise isn’t an accurate or true description of the city.”
Both the Garda and Dublin City Council are very active in dealing with issues, he says. “The level of interaction and genuine communication with the police is outstanding. I think the police are more responsive than ever before and the council are more responsive than they were years ago.”
The council has just embarked upon a €5 million upgrade of Temple Bar Square, first planned five years ago, with new paving, planting and seating. This 18-month project will lift the area, lord mayor Caroline Conroy says. “I think it will help because the area will feel more inclusive. It will increase the numbers of pedestrians coming in at all times of the day and that passive surveillance does reduce antisocial behaviour. It changes how the area feels.”
In a statement, the Garda said that as part of ‘Operation Citizen’ it “proactively engages with the business community in Dublin city centre area to provide a co-ordinated, high visibility Garda presence focused on tackling antisocial behaviour, incidents of public order and related criminal activity”.
It said it could not comment on specific incidents but added: “All incidents reported to An Garda Síochána are fully investigated, with a proactive arrest policy and prosecuted where possible.”
