LAST UPDATE
|
10 mins ago
GARDAÍ HAVE CONFIRMED they have not received any reports in relation to the alleged assault and robbery of Pittsburgh Steelers player quarterback Skylar Thompson in Dublin city centre over the weekend.
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 NFL’s website reported that Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Skylar Thompson was ‘jumped and robbed’ Friday night in Dublin, ahead of the league’s first-ever Dublin-based game, where the Steelers beat the Minnesota Vikings.
Thompson, on the injured reserve list, was not due to play on Sunday.
The 28-year-old suffered minor injuries, but returned to his team mates ahead of their game at Croke Park yesterday.
In a post-match press conference yesterday, Steelers player TJ Watt was asked to comment on the alleged assault, and said: “I don’t have enough to comment on that.”
In a statement today, gardaí said that a man who required medical assistance was found by gardaí on Dame Street in the early hours of Saturday morning, though no complaints were made about his injuries.
They added that the man was treated by emergency services personnel at the scene.
“No formal complaint has been made by any person at this time,” a garda spokesperson said.
“Following preliminary inquiries, An Garda Siochana has no further information to substantiate, or not, any report this incident involved a robbery.”
Justice Minister Jim O’Callaghan also said today that no complaint has been made to gardaí “in respect of that alleged criminal offense”.
“If somebody has been the subject of an attack or an assault or a theft in the city center, they must report it to An Garda Síochána,” O’Callaghan added.
“I’m not absolutely certain that this is the type of attack on tourists that we’ve had to engage in and to respond to previously.”
In relation to claims of Dublin city being unsafe for tourists, O’Callaghan said that “we’re always going to have incidents there.”
“I’m never going to be in the position where I’m going to be able to say that there will be no attacks on individuals who come to Dublin. It happens in every city. Perhaps we just pay too much attention and give a lot of attention to it.”
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.
Additional reporting by Andrew Walsh
