Three men contact Garda over assault

Three men contacted gardaí in Pearse Street yesterday to assist their investigation into the assault on Sligo man Mr Barry Duggan at Grafton Street/Lemon Street last Sunday at 1.45 a.m.

A file will be prepared for the Director of Public Prosecutions.

Mr Duggan (30), a librarian living in Rathmines, was turned on by a group of young men when he lost his balance on his bike on Grafton Street and fell into their gathering.

He remained critical but stable in St James's Hospital after the apparently motiveless attack.

Witnesses say Mr Duggan was dragged down nearby Lemon Street, where he was viciously kicked and beaten and eventually left unconscious.

Gardaí patrolling the area were summoned by members of the public, and Mr Duggan was rushed to St James's Hospital.

Meanwhile, a victims' support group has called for the deployment of more gardaí on the streets, particularly at weekends.

More gardaí will be the "only way" to curb unprovoked violent attacks, the chief executive of Victim Support, Ms Lillian McGovern, said yesterday.

Spokespeople have refused to say how many gardaí were on patrol in the area on Saturday night/Sunday morning. They have also refused to indicate whether the number of gardaí stationed in the busiest nightclub and bar area in the State had fallen, increased or remained static over the past year.

However, Mr Joe Costello, justice spokesman for the Labour Party, said he believed it was likely the number had fallen.

Basing this on figures he had received for the number of officers in five stations in his electoral ward, he called for publication of the numbers of gardaí deployed across the city this year compared with the same time last year.

He said the number of gardaí deployed in stations at Store Street, the Bridewell, Fitzgibbon Street, Mountjoy and Cabra had fallen. "The numbers are down in all five," he said.

He said Cabra's numbers had fallen from 76 in April last year to 70 today. Fitzgibbon Street had 116 gardaí stationed there in April last year compared with 106 today. It was "imperative" the Minister for Justice deliver on his Government's commitment to increase the number of gardaí by 2,000.

Ms McGovern said tackling public order offences and violent assaults "has to be about police number on the streets".

"There has to be a sense that gardaí are there, that violence will not be tolerated and that if trouble does break out that gardaí are a phone call away."

A spokesman for the Department of Justice said gardaí numbers would be increased by "about 500 to 12,200 by the end of 2004".