A SOCIAL DEMOCRATS TD has said that the assault of an American football player in Dublin over the weekend is the latest example of how “grim” it is in the city centre because of violence and antisocial behaviour.
Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Skylar Thompson was allegedly attacked in the early hours of Sunday morning while in the city for this yesterday’s NFL game.
The 28-year-old suffered minor injuries but returned to his team mates ahead of their game at Croke Park yesterday against Minnesota Vikings.
Reacting to the incident this morning, Dublin Central TD Gary Gannon said there is a “spectre of violence” hanging over the city centre at present.
He said it was “absolutely a trend” that people, including tourists, face attacks in Dublin.
“Every week we hear different incidents, assaults on the quays, people stabbed in the city,” Gannon told RTÉ Radio One’s Morning Ireland.
“It’s not speaking down of the city to say that we have substantial issues there and it’s not going to be addressed by wishing it away.
It’s bleak in Dublin city centre at the moment,” Gannon said.
Gannon added that Dublin needs a comprehensive violence reduction strategy and further claimed that “not a single penny” had been spent on the Dublin City Task Force plan launched last year.
Gannon made a veiled reference to Justice Minister Jim O’Callaghan’s recent derided remarks that he feels safe when walking around the capital, with the Social Democrat stating that he feels safe as “a 6’2 man who has walked through the city my whole life”.
“If I was a person from the migrant community and LGBT community, a woman walking alone in the street, I don’t think it would do the same level,” Gannon added.
The Steelers and the Vikings played each other in the first ever regular season game in Ireland yesterday afternoon in Croke Park.
