Micheál Martin: People are 'not as comfortable, particularly at night' in Cork city

Tánaiste Micheál Martin has said people feel increasingly vulnerable in Cork and there is a need for more gardaí in the city.

Mr Martin was asked by The Echo about a number of recent high-profile violent incidents in the city.

“Clearly people are concerned, people feel vulnerable, and … very often statistics are thrown about in terms of number of crimes and so on, [but] it’s the perception of safety, and people at the moment are not as comfortable, particularly at night, young women in particular are not as comfortable going about the streets of Cork now, as they might have been years ago,” he said.

“That’s a reality of modern living, it’s a reality of modern urban life, but we have to get to grips with it in terms of policing and in terms of making our streets safe again.

“That’s work that needs to be done.” 

Although he cautioned that perspective was needed, Mr Martin admitted he had particular concerns about the city centre.

“We had an outbreak last week of serious aggression and violence in a particular group, amongst themselves first, and then when the gardaí went to do assistance, then the gardaí were attacked.

“We need more gardaí, and thankfully recruitment is up, there’s over 6,000 applications this year, but for a number of years we were at a standstill situation, I think Covid had an impact in terms of numbers not coming through Templemore, and the suspension of training and so on.

“There is a need for more gardaí in Cork and I am pressing very hard now that that would be the case over the next two years in particular,” he said.

There had been two recent intakes of students to the Garda Training College in Templemore, he said, and another intake was due.

Mr Martin said Cork would have to get “a better share of the gardaí that are coming out of Templemore” than it had recently.

Asked about a recent spate of violent incidents on the northside, the Tánaiste said those issues should be let to An Garda Síochána to address, but he described as “reprehensible” the level of violence seen recently.

Reminded that former lord mayor Deirdre Forde had said she did not feel safe in some parts of the city at night, Mr Martin said a number of people had told him the same.

“I love walking the streets of Cork, it’s something I’ve been doing since a young person working in the city centre in my first job as a messenger boy in the chemist and I know every nook and cranny of the city centre,” he said.

“Cork was always a safe city, an easy city to walk, but at night, I’m hearing reports from young people that they do not feel as perhaps safe or secure as they once did, and we’ve got to look at the issue of addiction, and the use of cocaine, and drug abuse, because I think a lot of acts of violence are fuelled through the excessive use of drugs.”