More than 12,000 people have been arrested in Dublin city centre since January, amid a rise in aggression and “challenging behaviours”, Minister for Justice Helen McEntee has said.
Ms McEntee met retailers earlier this week to discuss a rise in shoplifting and anti-social behaviour, which she said has been increasing since the Covid-19 pandemic.
“We’ve seen a particular increase in the theft of goods and items, but we’ve also seen a change in people’s behaviours,” she said on Thursday. “People would recognise that there’s more aggression out there, that there is changed behaviours and challenging behaviours that we hadn’t seen before.”
Ms McEntee said there has been a “shift” within urban centres, with more people working from home, creating a “different dynamic”.
She said there has been an increase in the reporting of crimes, adding that gardaí have have put in specific operations in place to respond.
“It’s working on the basis that about 40 per cent of this retail crime is committed by about 8 or 9 per cent of people, so if you were to target and identify those individuals, you are straight away almost halving the issues in our shops, that is already under way,” she said.
Speaking on Newstalk on Thursday morning, Ms McEntee said there has been an increase of 20 per cent in the number of prosecutions in the past year, while 12,100 people have been arrested for various reasons in Dublin City centre alone since January.
Some €20 million in drugs has been confiscated as a result, she said.
Some €500 million more has gone towards An Garda Síochána over the last four years towards resources such as bodyworn cameras, she said.
“I’m getting really positive reports from gardaí about changed behaviour, about aggression de-escalating when they see cameras being put on and people being convicted because we have, for the first time, very clear evidence of crimes that have been committed,” she said.
Separately, on the extradition treaty signed between Ireland and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) which was passed by the Dáil on Wednesday, Ms McEntee said human rights have been at the centre of negotiations. Under the terms of the deal, it will not be permitted to extradite Irish citizens to the UAE, or Emirati citizens to Ireland.
Ms McEntee said any requests from the UAE to extradite Emiratis in Ireland who may face the death penalty, “or any form of inhumane or degrading treatment”, will be refused, she said.
This would also apply to those who could be wanted for crimes relating to political views or sexual orientation, or other areas “that we would deem completely unacceptable”, she said.
