Councillors demand lighting on section of Royal Canal Greenway after Deliveroo rider attacked
Dublin councillors want “urgent” action to introduce lighting to the Royal Canal between Phibsborough and Ashtown, following a violent attack on a Deliveroo cyclist on the amenity last week.
This section of the greenway is earmarked for a major upgrade under ‘Phase 4’ of the Royal Canal Greenway project, but progress on the development has stalled for years.
As an interim measure, lights should be installed along the corridor to improve its safety ahead of the full upgrade, said councillors at Tuesday’s meeting of the Central Area Committee.
Introducing a motion on the matter, Green Party councillor Feljin Jose said: “We have all seen the reports about the attacks on the Royal Canal recently. It has been going on for a long time.”
He said he regularly receives messages from locals warning that the section between Ashtown and Phibsborough was not safe for walking. And construction was not likely to start on Phase 4 for at least four or five years, he added.
“So, whatever we can do to install lights along that canal, along that pathway … whatever we can do to improve safety there would be brilliant,” he said.
The motion received support from across the chamber, with Independent councillor Cieran Perry saying that lighting would be welcome, but the area needed more than that for people to feel safe after dark.
“What we need is visible policing and actual high vis going up and down the likes of these places,” he said.
"Already people are taking different routes homes now to avoid the threat of the gangs of youths. So, it is primarily a policing issue and what we need now is proper patrols on the canal.”
Mr Jose said the reason his motion is focused on lighting is that “it’s the one thing we may be able to do” as a council.
“Obviously fully respect the policing aspects of it as well, and I fully respect the wider issues along the canal in the north inner city and the rest of it.
"But this section of the canal does not have lights and it’s been 10 years since the part 8 [for Phase 4] was approved, where the lights were going to go in, and it’ll be many, many more years.”
Fellow Green Party councillor Janet Horner said that she didn’t see the issues along the canal as primarily policing related, and that the best way of countering antisocial behaviour is introducing “prosocial behaviour”.
"Policing is an important part of the puzzle, but it alone cannot have a 24/7 presence on every part of every inch of our city, that is just an impossible thing,” she said.
Mr Perry said: “I can’t let your contention go unchallenged that it’s not a policing problem.This is a policing problem … By saying the likes of that, you’re letting the guards off the hook.”
"It’s the usual shit we have to listen to from the guards where they’re saying this is a societal problem. It is a societal problem, we all recognise that. But they have a significant role to play in policing our city.”