So-called joyriding - stealing cars, driving them recklessly and abandoning them - has reached its highest level for over 15 years, according to the most recent Garda statistics available.
In 1999, 14,851 "mechanically propelled vehicles" - mostly cars - were taken, driven and abandoned.
Those working to combat "joyriding" in the areas where it is most prevalent agree it is on the increase.
"Right outside my office window now there are about 40 burnt-out cars," said Mr John Currie, chairman of the Priorswood Joyriding Task Force. "They're constantly there."
Mr Dave Farrington, author of a report on joyriding launched by the Minister for Justice this month, agrees: "It's been going on for nearly 20 years and it's definitely not going away."
The task force commissioned Mr Farrington, a former youth worker, to study north Coolock, which has a particularly severe problem. He roughly estimates that the number of cars taken there, driven for a few hours and abandoned, at up to 40 a month.
"The normal pattern would be to do a little tour around estates, get a little buzz. Then they tend to finish off on home territory, and this involves a bit of showing off and fancy driving," he said.
A Dublin North East TD, Mr Tommy Broughan (Labour) has seen the problem first-hand in his constituency. He arrived on the scene of a horrific accident in 1994 in which a young child was killed.
He has seen "kids as young as 10 and 11 sitting trying to hold the wheel" and has himself narrowly missed being injured in a "joyriding" accident. "For the people living here, it's terrifying. You have mothers and fathers with kids diving for cover."
The cost of the problem is enormous. Apart from the expense to the owner and insurance companies, there is the cost to the Garda and local authorities of cleaning up and prevention.
Removing each abandoned or burnt-out car costs £65. At 40 cars a month, that means £30,000 a year, in one, small area.
Dublin Corporation spends almost £4,000 a month in the north Coolock area alone, on repairs, removing cars and temporary anti-"joyriding" measures.
Mr Farrington has no doubt that the fundamental underlying cause is socio-economic disadvantage. "Economically deprived local authority estates are where recurring `joyriding' is found," he said.
"The demoralisation, lack of opportunity and lack of ambition that derive when communities are socially disadvantaged mean these kids change from being problem individuals to part of the culture of those communities."
Most young people in these areas don't get involved in "joyriding", Mr Farrington insists. Among the reasons some children did was the absence opportunities for children out of school and out of work; the lack of parental supervision; and the availability of cars.
The typical "joyrider" is "male, has left school early, probably has difficulties in his family, and gets very little positive attention at home or at school", according to Mr Farrington. He is usually aged between 14 and 21.
More very young teenagers, under 16, are becoming involved, according to Insp Brian Sherry of Coolock Garda station, who says: "It's more difficult to deal with them, because there are no places for them. That is a problem for us."
The new National Car Test has been identified as a factor in the recent increase, because it releases a huge number of cars to teenagers by pushing them out of the insurable market.
Several young people club together to buy an old car that is unlikely to pass the test, often paying as little as £30 or £40.
These so-called "company cars" attract younger teenagers who are wary of stealing.
This socio-economic ill, like so many others, has its own vicious circle. Children become acclimatised to the activity. "There are kids `joyriding' now who would have been woken up as babies by `joyriders'," says Mr Farrington.