"Celtic Tiger" did not improve Irelands crime rate

Independent.ie published an interesting article about the result of a report produced by the Central Statistics office (CSO):
http://www.independent.ie/national-news/crime-soared-alongside-economy-in-boom-years-2080666.html

The report shows that during the 5 years between 2004 and 2008, things did not really get better on the crime-front. One asks itself how the recession might worsen things now even more... the next report in 3-4 years time will surely be an even more interesting one!

Apparently, Limerick is the worst place in Ireland in regards of gangland crimes and homicides, closely followed by the hottest southside quarters of Dublin.

Interesting citations from opposition politicians:

"Fine Gael's justice spokesman Charlie Flanagan said the statistics showed that the Government was losing the war on crime." 

"Labour's justice spokesman Pat Rabbitte said Fianna Fail, which had promised zero tolerance on crime, had made zero progress in most areas."

Some statistics about South Dublin crime & murder rate

A nice little article comparing south Dublin with Limerick in regards of homicide and gangland crimes. There are also drug-crime numbers in there:
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2010/0226/1224265202334.html 

It seems as if Drimnagh, Crumlin (and I suppose also Tallaght) are hot-spots on Dublin's south-side which are often neglected in discussions about the oh-so-bad northside.

And another gangster killed...

...one of the good things of Dublin's gangland crime is that most of the murder victims are thugs.
So, the poor performance of the Irish police force (which is underpaid and overworked, nothing special in Ireland...) has also its good sides: just do nothing and the bad people will eventually kill themselves.

Cynic as this may sound, I sometimes believe that this might be one of the business rationales of Garda bureaucrats in times of recession (oh, was it different during the so-called "Tiger years"? Likely not...).

The latest "victim" of gangland crime is a "well-known criminal involved in robberies, drugs, gun and gangland crime", states RTE news. And today, Breakingnews / IrelandOnline gives the name of the thug: Aidan Byrne.

Apparently he was found with gunshot wounds in his chest, in the passenger seat of a car on Drumalee Avenue, near North Circular Road (Phibsborough)

The story sounds like a typical gangster-template-story from Dublin.
In his early 30s, he was from the East Wall area, one of the "hot spots" of Dublin gangland activity. East wall is a slum-like relic of a once very poor area, squeezed in between the fancy new finance centre, IFSC, and the newer Dockland developments, where posh yuppies and young employees from all over Europe, many of them working in the finance sector or for companies like Facebook or Google, live.

While most of the gangland-crime is nowadays concentrating in more off-beaten quarters to the north, northwest and southwest of Dublin, East Wall (like Summerhill) is one of the places near the city centre where crime and murder are still quite high.

The Irish Police's Approach to Carnival

An interesting article today on herald.ie (http://www.herald.ie/national-news/city-news/swat-units-take-to-streets-in-major-show-of-strength-2070796.html).

Apparently, the Crumlin-Drimnagh quarters of Dublin (to the south-west, approaching the infamous ganster-land Tallaght) saw gangland shootings and incidents over the last weeks. There seem to be a number of so-called "volatile" elements among the thugs who think they are as cool as a figure out of a Tarantino or Coppola movie.

Naturally, a REAL Don Corleone or Jules Winnfield would just laugh out loud at the sight of one of those farcical Irish wannabe-gangsters waving around clumsily with a gun they are not worth possessing. Style and poise can't be bought with dirty money. You have them or you will never have them. And if you're just a taters-eating, Guinness-drooling SOB from Coolock, Artane or Tallaght, and you still try to imitate a movie-ganster.... well then you're just pathetic.

Never the less, that's the way Dublin's "gangsters" think they can impress helpless neighbours and hard-working citizens. And that's why the Irish caricature of a police-force, called "Garda" is so desperately trying to lull the populace into false peace - because imbecile's with money and weapons are on and about.

Good luck, Watchmen!

Dublin's Politicians discuss crime & murder

An interesting article on Northside People.
A Dublin Northside Labour Party politician, Joe Costello, openly speaks his mind (and a lot of sense!) about the current gangland and drug scene in Dublin and Ireland.

According to him, the drug industry is currently the strongest growing "industry" in recession Ireland, supposedly a multi-billion Euro operation.

Another politician, Cyprian Brady from the infamous Fianna Fáil (spell: F-A-I-L!) babbled something senseless to answer Costello's viewpoint: apparently, Labour's "voting records clearly show that they cannot be taken seriously on crime". What the hell does the one thing have to do with the other? And, in return, how is Ireland looking after years of the infamous and incompetent reign of Fianna Fáil?

Anyway, have a read and judge by yourself. Living in this place and having lived in many other countries and cities before, I can clearly say that what's going on in this country and in Dublin is NOT normal, it shows that large groups / parts of the population are de-grading massively and that respect for human life is declining enormously.

http://www.dublinpeople.com/content/view/2923/57/

Smells like a classical murder case

Just when I thought that Dublin is finally becoming that peaceful little town on the green island at the western fringe of Europe - the good ol' shooting corpse has returned!

The first Dublin murder in February 2010 has struck in Clonsilla, near Blanchardstown. Northside, naturellement.

It looks like a classic murder case: one corpse, 2 other men where in the house. The local Garda arrested two men, a gun was found at the scene. Apparently, the 3 men were friends.

Any ideas, Watson?

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/breaking/2010/0216/breaking11.htm