Advertisement

We need your help now

Support from readers like you keeps The Journal open.

You are visiting us because we have something you value. Independent, unbiased news that tells the truth. Advertising revenue goes some way to support our mission, but this year it has not been enough.

If you've seen value in our reporting, please contribute what you can, so we can continue to produce accurate and meaningful journalism. For everyone who needs it.

Rollingnews.ie

Poll: Would drug abuse on the street put you off shopping in an area?

Local businesses have come together on Dublin’s Mary Street to try and curb the problem of drug use in the alleyways behind their street.

A GROUP OF north Dublin shops and businesses have come together in a bid to stem the problem of drug abuse in the alleys and laneways next to their businesses.

The businesses in question acknowledge that they would “like to move it (drug use) further astream”, but that doing so “doesn’t fix the problem, it just moves it out of the way”.

One business owner in the area around Mary Street on Dublin’s north side says of the drug users in the vicinity: “the poor unfortunates don’t interfere with anyone if they can help it”.

But would such activity on the streets next to a retail district be enough to stop you from shopping there?

We’re asking: Would drug abuse on the street put you off shopping in an area?


Poll Results:

Yes (11838)
It would bother me but I would continue to shop there (1291)
No (310)
I don't know (71)

Readers like you are keeping these stories free for everyone...
A mix of advertising and supporting contributions helps keep paywalls away from valuable information like this article. Over 5,000 readers like you have already stepped up and support us with a monthly payment or a once-off donation.

Close
45 Comments
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Dj
    Favourite Dj
    Report
    Apr 6th 2016, 9:46 AM

    Nothing motivates me more to do a bit of shopping than seeing a junkie taking a shit while shooting up.

    535
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Peter Smyth
    Favourite Peter Smyth
    Report
    Apr 6th 2016, 9:47 AM

    Multi-tasking of any form always impresses me.

    269
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute P. ENNIS
    Favourite P. ENNIS
    Report
    Apr 6th 2016, 9:57 AM

    Well the gards dont seem to arrest people for shooting up in public i wonder if they were having a dump at the same time as you claim would this result in an arrest!

    54
    See 4 more replies ▾
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Leo Lowe
    Favourite Leo Lowe
    Report
    Apr 6th 2016, 10:01 AM

    What does a gard look like?

    124
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Mark Ryan
    Favourite Mark Ryan
    Report
    Apr 6th 2016, 10:04 AM

    Didn’t city councillors look for gardai to turn a blind eye to junkies because they are victims and could be getting a place to shoot up? it’s the publics fault, many ppl looked for sympathy rather than enforcement

    87
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute ktsiwot
    Favourite ktsiwot
    Report
    Apr 6th 2016, 10:52 AM

    This is the most stupid poll I have seen in a long time.

    128
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute John Mulligan
    Favourite John Mulligan
    Report
    Apr 6th 2016, 1:06 PM

    Thanks Peter for making me laugh on what has been a dull day for me.

    23
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Not_Rod_Ten©
    Favourite Not_Rod_Ten©
    Report
    Apr 6th 2016, 9:48 AM

    Your car is overdue by a month and you get fined, shoot up class a drugs in a playground and get a scolding

    224
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Aoife
    Favourite Aoife
    Report
    Apr 6th 2016, 9:53 AM

    Depends what your buying, if your looking for some cocaine then I’d of course do my shopping there if good deals were to be had.

    166
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Lukey
    Favourite Lukey
    Report
    Apr 6th 2016, 2:55 PM

    not in Ireland there’s not Aoife coke in the republic is the least pure and most expensive in Europe

    7
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Rochelle
    Favourite Rochelle
    Report
    Apr 6th 2016, 9:48 AM

    Would put me off visiting Dublin in general, let alone a street. There’s something seriously wrong with a city if this is a common sight on its main streets.

    154
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Brian Deane
    Favourite Brian Deane
    Report
    Apr 6th 2016, 10:29 AM

    Agree. The Irish establishment has an appalling acceptance of open drug and alcohol abuse on public streets. This is not accepted in other countries. At the heart of it all is the trendy liberal belief of ‘live and let live’. Rot.

    78
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Eugene Walsh
    Favourite Eugene Walsh
    Report
    Apr 6th 2016, 10:37 AM

    For sure Rochelle. Dublin City centre doesn’t know any different , it’s people have been predisposed to this filth for decades now so they’ve learned to walk the walk. Whether I visit there for an hr or a few days I always witness some degree of criminal behaviour

    50
    See 1 more reply ▾
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Rusty Balls
    Favourite Rusty Balls
    Report
    Apr 6th 2016, 11:03 AM

    Have to agree, we’ve become far too tolerant of things like this and are instead happy to whinge, moan and whine about how ‘it wouldn’t happen in other countries’ and they wouldn’t put up with this in France. But ask the same people if they’d be prepared to give just 15 minutes of their time to help do something about the issues they clearly feel so strongly about, whoosh! They’re gone.

    31
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Del Haven
    Favourite Del Haven
    Report
    Apr 6th 2016, 9:47 AM

    Hard drug use goes hand in hand with petty to serious crime. Only people not feeling uncomfortable are the users themselves.

    112
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Fergal McDonagh
    Favourite Fergal McDonagh
    Report
    Apr 6th 2016, 9:43 AM

    Of course.

    101
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Original Dodgy Boy
    Favourite Original Dodgy Boy
    Report
    Apr 6th 2016, 10:06 AM

    Fu**kin sure smack heads and junkies are very dangerous and unsafe when there off there rocker..end of the day drugs are illegal and they should be arrested on sight…zero tolerance approach is needed..

    97
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute windbag
    Favourite windbag
    Report
    Apr 6th 2016, 11:03 AM

    They should add it to the “hop on hop off tours”…… I can just see it ….” And if you look to the left you will see Junkies Corner…. Smile and wave you never know he could be robbing you later ” ….

    49
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Nazalia
    Favourite Nazalia
    Report
    Apr 6th 2016, 9:56 AM

    Is that supposed to be a rhetorical question instead of a poll!?! Surely?

    96
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Drew TheChinaman :)
    Favourite Drew TheChinaman :)
    Report
    Apr 6th 2016, 11:18 AM

    Not just junkies and drug use….

    Street drinking, aggressive pan handling, groups of delinquents loitering giving off intimidating vibes, shouting abuse or making threats of mugging, charity chuggers, people preaching animal rights or religion, filthy streets, bodily fluids and fast food rubbish from the night before, poor parking & public transport ….

    89
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Michael Kavanagh
    Favourite Michael Kavanagh
    Report
    Apr 6th 2016, 10:45 AM

    The idea of a ‘Crack Park’ is an excellent one – preferably up the mountains or out on Ireland’s Eye! Seriously: Whatever about tourists, who will probably not come again nor recommend the place to others; the amount of local people, old and young, who have been put off going into the city centre for simple shopping or daytime socialising must be significant and definitely a factor in the decline of city centre biz.

    69
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute David Cagney
    Favourite David Cagney
    Report
    Apr 6th 2016, 11:37 AM

    Ireland’s eye a great idea, and let them eat only shitehawk seagulls

    27
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Eilis Scott
    Favourite Eilis Scott
    Report
    Apr 6th 2016, 4:50 PM

    Dublin city is buzzing, is it a while since you visited?

    5
    See 1 more reply ▾
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Fiona Fitzgerald
    Favourite Fiona Fitzgerald
    Report
    Apr 7th 2016, 1:57 PM

    Best idea yet :-)

    1
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Louise Ní Riain
    Favourite Louise Ní Riain
    Report
    Apr 6th 2016, 10:32 AM

    Seriously did This have to be asked??

    51
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Cal McLaughlin
    Favourite Cal McLaughlin
    Report
    Apr 6th 2016, 10:35 AM

    Subplot:
    It’s part of the campaign for injection centres.

    53
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute onlybuzzinwitcha
    Favourite onlybuzzinwitcha
    Report
    Apr 6th 2016, 9:50 AM

    Does a bear sh*t in the woods?

    49
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Rónán O'Suilleabháin
    Favourite Rónán O'Suilleabháin
    Report
    Apr 6th 2016, 10:02 AM

    I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, Dublin probably needs a crack park. Plenty of cities have one.

    You take a park and you start rounding up heads and dumping there. If you spot them walking around town you load them into the van and drop them off at crack park.

    Tackling the issues around drug use is a separate one, and I would support decriminalization and injection centres with clean needles and drugs. They could be adjacent to crack park.

    I know you might say it only hides the issues, but it at least allows people to get on with shopping and living in other spaces, with loitering laws being enforced by rounding up loitering unfortunates and bringing them to crack park.

    The decriminalization is key for this though, as you don’t want the place surrounded by street dealers, which is where legal injection centres with clean skag comes into play.

    43
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Kal Ipers
    Favourite Kal Ipers
    Report
    Apr 6th 2016, 11:16 AM

    Can we put this crack park by your house? I can’t imagine anybody wants it near them but you think it a good idea so you can live there

    30
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Rónán O'Suilleabháin
    Favourite Rónán O'Suilleabháin
    Report
    Apr 6th 2016, 12:42 PM

    Well which is it Kal? Nimbyism or a less desirable city centre?

    It seems to work in other cities. Go to Vancouver some time, you don’t see hordes of crack addicts hanging out by the bay, but you do see them in eastern most parts of the city. When I lived there 12 years ago there was a street through the downtown area, east of which you’d see addicts, and west of which you wouldn’t and it was more affluent. That’s not to say the east was unsafe, in fact the better pubs and stuff were in this part of town. There is a crack park, but I think it grew organically.

    Crack park doesn’t have to be a physical location, it’s more the idea of no-go areas for junkies, and it needs Gardaí hassling them and wrecking their buzz, be it on the boardwalks or in the shopping areas until they feck off and find somewhere to congregate. If they don’t move on paddywaggon them somewhere. Getting dropped a few miles from town daily gets annoying after a while

    13
    See 1 more reply ▾
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Greg Cavey
    Favourite Greg Cavey
    Report
    Apr 6th 2016, 1:49 PM

    Sounds good. Berlin also rounds up their junkies and brings them to the outskirts of the city away from the populated tourist areas. Been there twice and did not see one homeless/junkie person. Its just not tolerated over there.

    9
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Alan McCartney
    Favourite Alan McCartney
    Report
    Apr 6th 2016, 10:06 AM

    Hamsterdam

    33
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Leo Lowe
    Favourite Leo Lowe
    Report
    Apr 6th 2016, 10:03 AM

    If your car is overdue by a month you should consider induction.

    22
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute ginger tomcat
    Favourite ginger tomcat
    Report
    Apr 6th 2016, 10:42 AM

    Dublin City centre don’t really have a choice, do you?

    11
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Cal McLaughlin
    Favourite Cal McLaughlin
    Report
    Apr 6th 2016, 9:49 AM

    No, not at all.
    If there’s a bargain to be had I’d take a day trip to Hell.

    10
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute GerMcKenna
    Favourite GerMcKenna
    Report
    Apr 6th 2016, 11:49 AM

    Not if your shopping for drugs

    10
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute mursim
    Favourite mursim
    Report
    Apr 6th 2016, 10:50 AM

    Well aren’t drugs to be decriminalised, and addicts to be allowed register as addicts, have safe rooms where they can use drugs, while being in the reach of the health authorities if they want it, which will result in a major reduction in petty crime, as seen in Lisbon?

    9
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Cal McLaughlin
    Favourite Cal McLaughlin
    Report
    Apr 6th 2016, 11:31 AM

    ‘As seen in Lisbon’
    Since Portugal decriminalised drugs, drug use there has gone up, the number of people using drugs has gone up, the number of homicides related to drug use has gone up by 40 per cent, and drug-related HIV/AIDS and Hepititis C is up and the rate in Portugal is now eight times that of EU countries.
    The problem doesn’t go away just because it’s sanitised.

    18
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Richard Sweeney
    Favourite Richard Sweeney
    Report
    Apr 6th 2016, 12:56 PM

    Have you a source for that Cal?

    10
    See 1 more reply ▾
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Eilis Scott
    Favourite Eilis Scott
    Report
    Apr 6th 2016, 4:49 PM

    Statistics say the opposite of what you’re saying. Drug use and crime rates have decreased as have deaths from overdose and also the HIV/AIDs rates.
    http://m.mic.com/articles/110344/14-years-after-portugal-decriminalized-all-drugs-here-s-what-s-happening#.gw7vKP5WT

    1
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute FlopFlipU
    Favourite FlopFlipU
    Report
    Apr 6th 2016, 10:13 AM

    There would be great craic in that park ,haa ,what do you think

    6
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Mr D
    Favourite Mr D
    Report
    Apr 6th 2016, 1:12 PM

    Unless I’m shopping for drugs

    4
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Anthony Byrne
    Favourite Anthony Byrne
    Report
    Apr 6th 2016, 9:36 PM

    Shoppers cary cash. Drug users want cash. Bad mix.

    2
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Michael Sands
    Favourite Michael Sands
    Report
    Apr 7th 2016, 1:40 AM

    Poll: Would drug abuse on the street put you off shopping in an area?

    Why, what is the government planning this time lol.

    1
Submit a report
Please help us understand how this comment violates our community guidelines.
Thank you for the feedback
Your feedback has been sent to our team for review.
JournalTv
News in 60 seconds