Garda morale and 'pass the parcel' politics fuelling Dublin apartment crime
Steps must be taken to address a “morale crisis” within the gardai as vulnerable tenants are repeatedly told “there’s nothing we can do” when highlighting anti-social behaviour.
That’s according to Sinn Fein Councillor Micheal Mac Donncha who spoke to Dublin Live about the recent coverage of council house residents' issues at De Verdon Place on the Malahide Road and Burnell Place in Northern Cross . With tenants living in fear as they are confronted with open drug taking and violence outside their doors, Cllr Mac Donncha called for more liaison between approved housing bodies, the Gardaí and the council.
“I would say most garda do their best within the power they have and the lack of numbers. Obviously, there’s a shortage of garda in the community that must be addressed,” he said.
“But, I think there’s also a cultural problem. I think there’s a morale problem in the garda. Because, nobody, no matter what they call up about should ever get the answer ‘well what do you want us to do about it?’”
Cllr Mac Donncha highlighted policing issues within North Central communities and apartment blocks that have been plagued with anti-social behaviour. However, he also said the recent rise in these instances can be partly attributed to design faults that many older council properties didn’t have.
“There’s a major difficulty in new apartment blocks and unique problems relating access to hallways and it seems to me the gardai and management companies haven’t got it right in terms of how they approach it to ensure the common areas, halls, and stairways are safe,” he said.
“There’s also long term problems in some places with underground car parks . I’ve come across residents who won’t park in them because they don’t feel it’s safe. Particularly, at night and for women. I think in some ways policing has not adapted to that.”
Cllr Mac Donncha explained that the design of a lot of older flats had “open balconies” leading to the common area that helped discourage anti-social behaviour. He said it's disappointing that “lessons have not been learned” and that council tenants are deserving of “decent security.”
“People are going out, bringing their kids to school, and there might be needles on their stairways. Sometimes there might be even people shooting up there, or there might be drug sales going on,” he said.
Cllr Mac Donncha said it appears that approved housing bodies didn’t count on the “scale” of anti-social behaviour that would need to be addressed in new apartment buildings and that some “may not be equipped to deal with this.”
He’s calling for more liaison between all stakeholders relating to council properties in the North Central area and said there are plans to meet with tenants and conduct surveys on these issues in the coming weeks.
With so many different bodies involved, Cllr Mac Donncha stressed the importance of addressing these issues and avoiding a “pass the parcel” situation where nobody takes full responsibility for the dire circumstances council tenants find themselves in.
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