Cohort of youths on roof bring shopping centre to a standstill

AFTER a shopping centre came to a standstill when a cohort of youths climbed onto the roof, kicked shopfronts and caused damage, a family business has engaged with those involved to show them what they work for.

Dissocial behaviour at Fortunestown Shopping Centre has increased in recent months, with members of the surrounding community feeling intimidated in the evenings accessing the shops.

On one such incident, on Wednesday, August 16, a group of around a dozen young people, some of whom recently graduated from primary school, made the area in Springfield near inhospitable.

Security in SuperValu had to close its doors to prevent the young people from accessing the shops, turning off the automatic function to manually control access.

Some of the group climbed onto the roof of the centre, damaging lights and cabling, while others broke trolley bay panelling and kicked shopfronts.

Footage taken on the night shows young people kicking the closed shutters of Sahasrara Hair and Beauty, which is a family-run business that employs seven local people.

Since the incident, the salon has identified some of the individuals involved, including one such young girl who is set to do a few days’ work experience in a bid to reform their behaviour.

“We are a community-based salon, we won an award for local salon of the year and are up for another one, all of us here are from around,” Gemma Madden, owner of Sahasrara Hair and Beauty tells The Echo.

“But it’s just getting worse and worse. We’re open late on a Thursday and Friday, and they hover around here at the trolley bay and it’s affecting us hugely.

“Some of my older clients won’t come over here in the evenings, especially coming into the dark evenings, because they’re being intimidated.

“Our service charges are going up because the management need to install new cameras and electric gates to improve the security of the shopping centre.

“I don’t think they realise the impact that their silliness is having. I’ve spoken to one of their parents, and I think her daughter is going to do a few day’s work experience with me.

“They all need to realise if something was to happen to this salon, the employees here will be without work, there’s a bigger picture.

“If any of them walked through my doors here asking for work experience, I’d have no problem taking them on.

“I had kids when I was young, but they have other choices.

“Punishing them isn’t going to do anything, but if they can change the way they’re thinking then maybe we can show them that they have more choices than they think.”

People have communicated to The Echo that they feel intimidated when visiting the shopping centre in the evenings, due to the scale of anti-social behaviour in recent months.

Following the flare-up last week, Cllr Charlie O’Connor echoed the sentiments of the community.

“I visit the shopping centre some evenings myself, I was there that night before it kicked off, I go to the post office during the day, and I’m intimidated myself sometimes,” Cllr O’Connor tells The Echo.

“I got a lot of reaction from residents about this issue, particularly from residents in Raheen, which would be the nearest estate.

“I’ve made contact with the Gardaí as well, they’ve said they would look into it.

“It’s just not good enough – like a lot of people, I would love to know where these teenagers are from.

“In some cases, as we can tell from the pictures, they are quite young. It’s appalling.

“What’s going on with the level of anti-social behaviour is disgraceful.

“That is a first-class shopping centre, all of the shops provide excellent service and it’s very telling when residents are concerned and they don’t want this behaviour to jeopardise their local shops.”

The issues have been raised with Tallaght Garda Station, with Bróna O’Reilly, Superintendent of Tallaght Garda Station, acknowledging a need to patrol the area.

“I wish to report that this matter has been brought to the attention of all patrols and Neighbourhood Policing Unit, who will continue to engage in proactive patrols of public areas, identified as areas of congregation by youths, in an effort to detect and deter anti-social behaviour.”

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