UNION REPRESENTATIVES HAVE called for action to safeguard Dublin City Council workers from physical assaults while they are on the job, following a recent attack on a caretaker in the North Inner City.

The assault occurred in the Ballybough area of the North Inner City on Thursday 9 January, where a 61-year-old council worker was attacked by a member of the public with an object.

Another council worker was at the scene and was able to stop the attacker, with SIPTU saying that it was a number of hours before gardaí had the manpower available to attend the scene. 

The victim, who has worked with Dublin City Council for 28 years, was left injured with several cuts and bruises, and said he has been left “shaken” by the assault.

He currently works as a caretaker for flat complexes owned by Dublin City Council, and had been working at a flat complex in the area when the attack occurred.

“Most people do not realise the effects such attacks have on the employee and their families,” the victim, who chose to remain anonymous, said.

“It can change your entire personality, where you once viewed people in a friendly open manner, now you view them with suspicion and anxiety. It takes a long time to regain your confidence after such an incident.”

According to SIPTU, such attacks are becoming a “more frequent occurrence” for many of their members who work for the Dublin City Council, and they said it was not the first time that this man has suffered an assault.

A SIPTU spokesperson said that the victim, who previously served in the Defence Forces, had been left more shaken by the recent attack than “anything else in his life”.

‘A weekly occurrence’

SIPTU Organiser Jay Power said there has been a marked rise in assaults on members in recent times, with a spokesperson saying incidents of abuse, threats and assaults such as the incident in Ballybough last Thursday have become a ‘weekly occurrence’.

“We’re seeing shocking amounts of attacks on workers,” Power told The Journal.

“Not a week goes by when SIPTU are not being contacted by one of our members about attacks, and it’s across all sectors – roads, waste, housing, homeless services. Week after week, more SIPTU members have made contact about being attacked while at work,” Power added.

According to Power, SIPTU members working across a range of sectors in Dublin city are facing “uphill battles” due to increases in illicit drug use and drunken, anti-social behaviour across the city.

In a statement today, the SIPTU Dublin City Council committee condemned the “unwarranted attacks” on its members, Dublin City Council staff and other public servants.

“These cowardly attacks need to be addressed. Staff going about their daily job should not have to do so in fear,” the statement read.

SIPTU are proposing a “three-pronged approach” to Dublin City Council to deal with the attacks, wherein further resources are made available for Dublin City Council staffing levels, community resourcing for local initiatives and Garda staffing levels.

“We are highlighting the need for vigilance and proactive management responses to protect public sector, and wider services industries, workers who may be vulnerable to work-related assaults,” Power said.

“Dublin City Council workers supply essential services to residents of the city. Our members need to be able to go to work without fear, it is a shocking indictment of where we are as a society that workers are in fear just going to work.”