Calls for increased garda presence on Cork's MacCurtain St to combat antisocial behaviour

Drinking, drug taking, and drug dealing on MacCurtain St are undermining the multimillion-euro public realm improvements recently undertaken in the area, a Fine Gael councillor has said.

Councillor for Cork City North East Joe Kavanagh told The Echo he had received complaints from business owners on MacCurtain St regarding the “growing problem” of antisocial behaviour.

He submitted a motion to yesterday’s city council meeting that the council would write to the Chief Superintendent of An Garda Síochána in Anglesea St and request an increased level of visible police presence in the MacCurtain St area and surrounding areas on an ongoing basis.

His motion stated: “Significant investment in infrastructural development in this area has resulted in increased footfall in the VQ area and local businesses are benefitting from this.

“However, this area has also become a focal and meeting point for various people engaging in on street drinking, drug dealing, drug taking, and associated activities on an ongoing basis at all times of the day and night.”

“This is a barrier to economic growth and development in this area, and a high-visibility garda presence there on foot on an ongoing basis will certainly help to resolve this problem,” said Mr Kavanagh.

He told the council that “criminality is taking place”, by people who have been attracted to the area due to the high-quality public realm and seating there.

Mr Kavanagh told The Echo: “City council has spent huge amounts of money, millions, on upgrading the VQ area, but unfortunately it’s become a bit of a party zone.

“Drug dealing on the street in broad daylight, people only consuming alcohol and drugs, it can be very intimidating to people walking past, going to bars and restaurants, which is what the area was made for.”

He explained: “You have this overhanging intimidatory element there at the moment for tourists, residents, and business owners if there’s people just sitting down on the street, particularly at the bottom of Patrick’s Hill, drinking cans of beer, so my motion asks for gardaí to have a visible presence, on foot, on an ongoing basis.”

“There’s no point in a squad car driving through MacCurtain St — anybody can drive through — we need gardaí on foot protecting our investment, we’ve done magnificent work developing the area, it’s a flagship of our city, so let’s take it back.”

Mr Kavanagh said he has raised this issue on a number of forums and had a call from the gardaí, saying “they’ve tried to up the ante a bit but we need more of a physical presence so that people can feel safe, and the street can be what it’s meant to be which is a hospitality quarter”.

The motion was supported across party lines, with Labour’s Peter Horgan saying “there is a policing problem in the city. A garda that I know handed in his notice last month — he’s only been in the force for less than 10 years.

“He’s in Perth now. We have a massive recruitment and retention crisis and it’s not being dealt with.”

Pádraig Rice of the Social Democrats suggested there had to be more social supports for issues such as addiction and poverty “to address the root causes of the issue rather than the problems it causes”.