Assistant Garda Commissioner Mr Kevin Carty today rejected suggestions that Dublin's Temple Bar area was not safe for tourists.
Mr Carty criticised media reports that claimed officers were turning a blind eye to drug addicts in the capital's designated cultural area. He said portrayals of Temple Bar as dangerous were "totally" false.
"My message is it is actually safe here," he said. "There have been problems in this area. But those problems are not as extreme as they are being portrayed. Taking account of the amount of people moving through Temple Bar, the amount coming into contact with the gardaí is actually small".
Mr Carty was speaking at the promotion of a crime prevention leaflet aimed at cracking down on crime in Temple Bar. The brochure, compiled by Traders in the Area Supporting the Cultural Quarter (TASCQ), offers practical tips for businesses to reduce crime.
The Assistant Commissioner said the launch had been planned long before the recent article concerning drug use in the area, and he denied it was a "knee-jerk reaction".
The leaflet claims that about 28 per cent of crime in the Temple Bar area consisted of property being stolen from the inside of premises. It urged publicans, clients and businesses in the area to work together to combat problems.
