'There's a sense of the Wild West in the city at the moment'.

A Dublin restauranter has said he is questioning his future in the city after he and his dogs were attacked by a gang of teenagers. Crime in the capital has dominated the headlines and airwaves since a recent attack on a US tourist in the North Inner City. Speaking on The Pat Kenny Show, Drury Buildings owner Ronan Rogerson said has become increasingly unhappy with the state of the city. “I haven’t felt unsafe until relatively recently,” he said. “Last Friday night, I was walking my two dogs down by the canal at 7pm when I got attacked by a gang of teenagers. “About 15 to 20 teenagers started shooting rockets at me - and it doesn’t compare to what’s been happening in the city centre over the last couple of weeks - but I was petrified.” While the rockets exploded around him, he grabbed his dogs and took shelter behind a nearby car. “My dogs were petrified, I was petrified,” he said. “For the first time, I got home and I just went, ‘Now I’m nervous.’ “All of a sudden, you go from being 100% comfortable walking around the streets of Dublin and then this happens and now I know what it’s like for everybody else.” Mr Rogerson said the attack happened “out of nowhere” and it was not something he had experienced before. “I feel these are the COVID kids, these are kids that fell through the cracks during COVID and that there’s just a sense of the Wild West in the city at the moment,” he said. “There’s no accountability, the Guards can’t do anything.” After he filled out a report, a Garda told him not to expect much to come of it. Mr Rogerson said Gardaí are “doing their job” but do not have the tools to tackle crime properly. “Their hands are tied,” he said. “It just feels that we need to get going on intervention. “Prevention not cure is what I believe needs to be the solution.” Although he considers himself a “true blue Dub”, the incident has made him question his future in the city. “This is the first time that it’s actually entered my mind, ‘Do I want to be living in Dublin?’” he said. “Now, I do and I’m not planning on moving but I know a lot of people and around a lot of dinner tables around the city, people are having that conversation.” Following the attack on Stephen Termini, the Government announced a €10 million funding boost for Garda overtime. “We’ll go, we’ll investigate this, we’ll find out who they are - we probably already know who they are,” the Guard told him. “What’ll happen is we’ll bring them up in front of a court, there’s no injured party - so nothing will happen to them. “Even if there was an injured party, the most that they’ll get will be a slap on the wrist and they’ll be out within hours.” #dublin #attack #newstalk