O’Connell Street Hype

from what they said on the radio all they actually decided was that it was more dangerous than grafton steet, these were the only streets they examined in detail and yes, o’connell was the more dangerous of the two.

Is it the busiest street in Dublin? I would say that on a footfall basis Henry Street or Grafton Street. Oxford street is not the most dangerous street in London, the Champs or Hausmann in Paris is not either cities most dangerous streets, yet probably their busiest.

And there is a hell of a lot of criminal behaviour goes on on O’Connell Street – muggings, mindless violence, drug dealing, Harassment – so yes it probably is the most dangerous street in Ireland.

Henry St is the busiest in Dublin per sq foot.
The O’Connell St stats are probably exaggerated, but in my experience not unfounded. Somewhere like Dame St doesn’t have a reputation like that at all and it’s serves as a junction between Temple B and the Grafton shooping areas so gets alot of people both night and day.

During retail hours an average of 10,500 people walked through Grafton Street in 2001. This figure fell to 9,800 last yearr. On Henry Street the fall was from 9,400 to 8,100 in the same period.

Leaving aside all the differences in scale, O’Connell Street is still no more intimidating of a Saturday night than the main streets of many provincial towns.

not true. from the experiences of country boys like myself and all the locals i know, o’connell street is the least desirable place to be of all dublins main thoruoghfares. i’ve worked nightshift security on o’connell street, westmoreland street, and dame street, and the idea that these reports are exaggarated is simply denial. it is a fact that o’connell street is the most dangerous. its a cop-out to say that the instances of crime per meter of street, or by the number of people to walk down it, make it less than lethal. the reality is that this street is the worst in ireland.

the fairest way of judging it would be by what we deserve. the main street of our capital should be a place for locals and visitors to walk uninhibited day or night. the main streets of helsinki for example are safe to traverse any hour. this is comparable to dublin in that helisinki is roughly the same size, and the centre of the city is organised around two long streets, slightly at an angle to each other, and surrounded by tributaries which are the centres of nightlife.

My point was, O’Connell Street serves the same purpose as other main streets around Ireland on weekend nights – to absorb most of the people coming out of the pubs, give them burgers, taxis, whatever, before they go home.
I think this is a fairer comparison than to a shopping street like Grafton Street where, in fairness, an innocent cyclist was beaten into a coma the other week.
I’ve never worked security, but as a former resident of several large towns/small cities recently, I don’t feel in any more in danger on O’Connell Street. In fact, I feel considerably more intimidated in Galway’s Eyre Square – a horrible, scary kip for a couple of hours every Saturday night.

O’Connell Street is a disgrace …..full stop.
A disaster area of epic proportions.
Such hysteria is much needed so as the lazyites, ie…. TD’s, councillors, developers and the general public will get their fingers out and do something positively productive for Ireland’s premiere street.

I agree that O’C St is a disgrace and it is not acceptable that people in this country should feel that it is something to be ‘put up with’. However, our politicians and councillors are notoriously lax when it come to taking the bull by the horns and dealing with the ‘yob culture’ that is the cause of this problem.

Irish nightlife continues to be about young people going into town to get as pissed (and increasingly as destructive) as possible. Until we as a society start to take this seriously and change attitudes then I am afraid O’Connell St will continue to be this way…. nice new paving or not!

Indeed this culture really should be adressed prior to any development on the st, imagine the state of the new paving, steel street furniture & new shopfronts etc after a multitude of Friday & Saturday nights. Although how you deal with it…

During the day however, it is essential that a permenant strong Garda presence is maintained on the st, a friend had her phone nicked straight out of her hand only the other day.
And 2 permenant litter wardens purely for the st are also required.
Cleaniness and safety breeds quality stores, which breed money, which breeds quality architecture, which breeds proper maintanence, which breeds ‘quality people’ on the st (in the broadest sense of the term) who in turn breed cleaniness & safety and the circle begins again.

But its the powers that be that need to begin drawing this circle, and NOTHING is being done.
The O’ Connell St team told me the paving was to be started in first thing in the new year, and only now are services being laid.
More PVC has crept into the st in the 6 years since the IAP, the pavements were never cleaned after Patricks Day, there are no litter wardens on the st, the Spire still isn’t finished and won’t be for another 5 weeks at least, in the 6 years no facades have been cleaned, bar one, the paving falls into a worse condition by the day, piles of commercial waste are still thrown out onto the roadsides, there has been no developments on the safety aspect to the st, no public urinals that rise out of the ground at night have been installed, the LUAS is delayed by 7 months on the st, public lighting is as apalling as ever, the GPO still not floodlit…………………

The IAP was compiled 6 YEARS AGO, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 YEARS. It is an absolute disgrace. Whatever about the Spire’s delays etc, the record on the street’s improvement is abominable.

I would say that was a pretty thorough critique of whats failed to happen on the Street. You should copy and paste and send it off to Mr Fitrgerald!

Graham – you’ve nailed it on the head!