A NEW SURVEY has found that while many Dubliners view the city centre as unsafe, relatively few have personally been victims of serious crime.

The City Centre Crime Victim Survey, commissioned by The Dublin Inquirer and carried out by Amarách Research, gathered responses from 600 adults who live in or regularly visit the city centre.

Just 12% of respondents said they’d experienced some form of theft in the past year, while 9% reported being threatened in a public place.

3% of those surveyed said they had been threatened with a weapon, and 2% said they had been deliberately hit or kicked.

A further 19% said they had been insulted or verbally abused in public – on the street, public transport, or in a coffee shop or bar.

Despite these relatively modest figures, perceptions of danger remain high.

Among city centre residents surveyed, 78% said that intimidation, harassment, or threatening behaviour in their neighbourhood was a serious or somewhat serious problem.

The findings coincide with Dublin City Council’s move to recruit members of the public for new Local Community Safety Partnerships, which will replace the city’s old Joint Policing Committees and aim to make safety a shared responsibility between gardaí, local agencies and residents.

The researchers say the results suggest a gap between people’s fears about safety in the city and the actual level of victimisation being experienced.

Public debate over crime in Dublin’s core has intensified in recent years, following several high-profile violent incidents and renewed focus on “rejuvenation” policies.

Yet Social Democrats TD Gary Gannon claims there’s no evidence basis behind policy regarding safety in the city centre, telling the The Dublin Inquirer that “it’s based on almost a humpty-dumpty approach“.

Official garda figures show theft and robbery ‘from the person’ down by about 30% in 2024, though thefts from shops have increased slightly.

The Amarách survey also suggests that most victims of assault or threat never report incidents to gardaí, as only 30% said they had done so.

Among victims of theft in Dublin city, 71% said they had reported the crime to gardaí.