Possible drug dealer moving in our nice quiet estate

jim said:

Convicted criminals should certainly "live in prison". I don't think its fair to say that "these people" should be made to live in prison, delboy.

If the father is dealing drugs that's illegal and he is a criminal and he should be brought to justice and he should be accommodated in a fine prison cell instead of a nice housing estate with lovely neighbours.

I don't think one can, or should, dictate who their neighbours are but one can choose where they themselves live.

I couldn't agree more with Emma's comment above. Similar to Emma, I also bought a house in a "less affluent" part of Dublin recently but I am originally from the rural west of Ireland. I am very happy with where I live and my neighbours are fine in spite of the reputation attached to the area and to some of my neighbours.

Maybe my upbringing has instilled a certain naivety within me, and admittedly if I had a family I might look differently on the OP's plight. Or maybe my upbringing has resulted in me having a level of humility which gives people the benefit of the doubt.

As has been suggested, the OP could try and speak to the landlord to make his concerns known and this could lead to the outcome that he wants i.e the landlord might very well block this family from moving in to the house.

Click to expand...

Jim I'm pretty sure yes if you had young children and were in my boat you'd be singing quite a different tune. Also just to be clear I had plenty of humility instilled in me growing up, also in the west of Ireland. But I also had plenty of other values and certainly one of those would be you work hard for an honest living and pay your way like my Dad did and I'm now doing. It wasn't to "give the benefit of the doubt" to a known drug dealer just because he needs a larger free house.

We only have 2 children because frankly that's all we can afford as we have to pay for everything, yet a family the other side of the village where neither parent works will soon have 4 children and because of the hand-out culture in this country they might well get an 1800 sq ft detached 4 bed house to live in and continue to deal drugs from and bring issues into our up until now quiet corner? You think we should be giving them the benefit of the doubt somehow just because he's not in jail?

postman pat said:

aah the liberal agenda is alive and well it seems..........

Click to expand...

Sorry Postman , I don,t agree (liberal agenda) bit .
There is an old saying {born in a pigsty ,you end up a pig} .
The whole generational circle, of bad -rearing, bad upbringing etc can,t be just tackled by quick harsh fixes , harsh quick fixes just carry the venom onto the next and the next generation.

It ain,t simple !

Gerry Canning said:

Sorry Postman , I don,t agree (liberal agenda) bit .
There is an old saying {born in a pigsty ,you end up a pig} .
The whole generational circle, of bad -rearing, bad upbringing etc can,t be just tackled by quick harsh fixes , harsh quick fixes just carry the venom onto the next and the next generation.

It ain,t simple !

Click to expand...

And by rewarding drug dealers who won't work or control their family size with large detached 4 bed houses it won't be tackled either. Do you think moving them in beside people who earn an honest living they will somehow see the light?

Give a man a fish, feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish...

Some people don't want to learn.

Anyway, thanks to all those who contributed pieces of advice and encouragement. Much appreciated. We'll talk to the landlord and do what we can and hope for the best after that. Failing that keep an eye on daft for a nice 4 bed family home for sale at a good price!

Don't hate the player hate the game.

I wish you luck in your endeavours.

SCurry said:

Anyway, thanks to all those who contributed pieces of advice and encouragement.

Click to expand...

I didn't offer any advice, but if I were in your shoes, I would think about getting a few "friendly" dogs!

Most of us on this forum probably think that we will never see a day when we get on the wrong side of the law and hope we will not. None of us can see what our situation will really be even in a month's time because we cannot see into the future. We don't know that the drug dealer in question here will be a dealer in a few weeks time either. We are talking about a drug dealer here, not a drug baron. Is the dealer an addict himself? Is he peddling drugs to feed his habit? To what extent is he dealing? Even, why is he dealing? Is his wife/partner a dealer? Are his children different to our children?

We are still emerging from a recession where well-off white collared people fleeced the people of this country legally and illegally and it appears none of them will ever see the inside of a real prison. If these people were moving into any housing estate perhaps there would not be one eyelid raised? Yet, because we think the new neighbour is a drug dealer he should not be allowed into the estate.

If this guy were in the IRA, would we be screaming to keep him out? If he had done 10 years for murder and was let out of prison, would we be objecting?

It is great to be judge, jury and hang-man where we can comfortably occupy the moral high ground. Are we that smug that we think we will all be paragons of virtue into the future? I am not saying it is right to be a drug dealer. But, bottom line, we have a garda force which is effective even with its own problems of not being able to deal in a just way to its whistleblowers.

Drug dealers probably don't want to be drug dealers. They must survive and provide for their children too. I don't know where the happy medium is, but hunting them down outside of the law is not the way to go.

Leper said:

Drug dealers probably don't want to be drug dealers. They must survive and provide for their children too.

Click to expand...

I had to come back into say that I am absolutely stunned by a statement like that. It's this kind of liberal BS thats destroying this country.

*for the record, I agree with the gist of your comments on the professionals who brought this country into the arms of the Troika. White collar crime in this country is treated as a bit of harmless fun. And we all pay for it

In the past week I visited the District Court, more out of nosiness than anything else. An 18 year old teenager came before the court for breaking into cars and stealing what he could. He had a knife in his possession. He didn't use the knife but he possessed it. He confronted two people in one of the cars. The thief wanted money to buy drugs. He was apprehended by the Gardaí and when questioned owned up to the crimes. In court he pleaded guilty. The judge sentenced him to eight months in custody (sentence reduced to 8 months because of the guilty plea + that he was into drugs). His solicitor (free legal aid) was there on his behalf. But, the strange thing (from where I sat) there was nobody else there with the defendant. There was no parent, no friend there. I have no doubt it is the guy's first stint in prison and probably not his last. I don't think he has a chance of a future normal life. The word tragedy comes to mind. Most other 18 year olds are probably preparing for their Leaving Cert at this stage and looking forward to 3rd Level.

When he comes out of prison; what then? Dealing perhaps? I don't see much positive future for him. Can you?

Leper said:

In the past week I visited the District Court, more out of nosiness than anything else. An 18 year old teenager came before the court for breaking into cars and stealing what he could. He had a knife in his possession. He didn't use the knife but he possessed it. He confronted two people in one of the cars. The thief wanted money to buy drugs. He was apprehended by the Gardaí and when questioned owned up to the crimes. In court he pleaded guilty. The judge sentenced him to eight months in custody (sentence reduced to 8 months because of the guilty plea + that he was into drugs). His solicitor (free legal aid) was there on his behalf. But, the strange thing (from where I sat) there was nobody else there with the defendant. There was no parent, no friend there. I have no doubt it is the guy's first stint in prison and probably not his last. I don't think he has a chance of a future normal life. The word tragedy comes to mind. Most other 18 year olds are probably preparing for their Leaving Cert at this stage and looking forward to 3rd Level.

When he comes out of prison; what then? Dealing perhaps? I don't see much positive future for him. Can you?

Click to expand...

Maybe the tragedy is the people this guy and people like him have nearly frightened to death some our older generation when they mug them on the street and rob their homes, and its not even the people directly affected,but its the people who see this on the news and papers and are scared in their own homes.
Do you ever think Leper you might be feeling sorry for the wrong people?

postman pat said:

Maybe the tragedy is the people this guy and people like him have nearly frightened to death some our older generation when they mug them on the street and rob their homes, and its not even the people directed affected,but its the people who see this on the news and papers and are scared in their own homes.
Do you ever think Leper you might be feeling sorry for the wrong people?

Click to expand...

I don't think you are wrong Postman Pat, but I wonder if are you right. I don't have the answers. I was not one of the guys affected either, it was not my car window that was broken (and there were at least 20 cars robbed by the guy). He could not have got a more lenient prison sentence and some of the words of the judge combined with his body language suggested that the defendant was one of those people who had little or no chance in life. The lawbreaker was only 18. Other than his solicitor there was nobody there for him. I don't know what education he had, what upbringing was available to him. What was in front of me was a young human tragedy just beginning. And OK! - Let's call him a scum-bag, a junkie, a terroriser of normal people, or any other title we can think up - does this help anybody? Will the boy come out of prison as a model person in society? Like I said earlier, I don't have the answers.

. . . and let's get back to our salt-of-the-earth people who raped the country causing a recession which affected every man, woman and child. None of them has to face a judge let alone see the inside of a prison cell. How many of us faked our income to acquire 3rd Level grants for our off-spring? How many of us have medical cards and are not entitled to them? Do all of us declare all of our income to the Revenue Commissioners? Are all our deserted wives deserted? Are all of our unemployed actually unemployed? The list goes on and on. Other than the violence what's the difference between these people and the 18 year old boy above? Who stole the most? The boy caused problems for upwards of 20 people the others are screwing the entire population.

S curry.

The stress of (unsavoury) neighbours seems to be eating you, and that's not good.

Don,t check Daft yet , give it a bit of time .
If you can , don,t let pre-notions of this boyo colour any reaction you have with him or his family.
Try and take him as any other neighbour, remember it ain,t your house ,and you have little control over neighbours ! and try to give him the benefit of the doubt unless he actively crosses you. .

Wish you well..

Leper said:

. . . How many of us faked our income to acquire 3rd Level grants for our off-spring? How many of us have medical cards and are not entitled to them? Do all of us declare all of our income to the Revenue Commissioners? Are all our deserted wives deserted? Are all of our unemployed actually unemployed? The list goes on and on. Other than the violence what's the difference between these people and the 18 year old boy above? Who stole the most? The boy caused problems for upwards of 20 people the others are screwing the entire population.

Click to expand...

Thats a very very big difference.

There is also the difference that the right not to be robbed with the threat of violence is universal.

The limits for medical card eligibility may change next year.