Five Days in July - My Experience with LTT Media on the Streets of Cork City.
At the start of this month, I was asked by LTT Media LTD Director Aaron Joyce to call into the LTT Media office on South Mall in my hometown of Cork City where I have lived since I was born 33 years ago. In less than a week I have seen things I have never thought I would ever see in the centre of Ireland’s Rebel City.
Cork was not a city that I would have considered ‘completely safe’ in my youth. Problems had existed before and crime was an unfortunate reality that we had to deal with, especially in working class areas such as the area I grew up in. Drug use and binge drinking was a major problem in communities, I know that from both my own personal experience and the experiences of those around me through the years. There were some streets you just didn’t go down. It wasn’t just petty crime or minor assaults too, we saw serious crimes as well. Whether it was crimes of desperation, crimes of passion, gangland warfare or just the actions of Evil people, we are no stranger to crime in Cork City.
However, in recent years we have seen a massive rise in the frequency of crimes, not just in Cork, but all over Ireland. Everything from minor crimes like shoplifting all the way up to crimes as horrific as murder and rape. We are also are seeing crimes that we have never seen before in this country. People are living in fear. It isn’t just ‘a dodgy street’ you have to worry about now, it is the whole city if not the whole country that is dangerous. You’d have to search a good bit for a place that doesn’t have some sort of crime problem these days. This very apparent in urban areas like Dublin and Cork as well as smaller cities and towns.
I had noticed the signs that crime was rapidly rising in Cork City before I got involved with LTT Media. The headlines I saw from Dublin were becoming headlines in Cork and the insanity on the streets of Dublin were becoming a common sight for people in Cork City and beyond. I was well aware of the problem and what caused it, mainly government immigration policies and a ‘Justice System’ that enables criminals instead of making them face consequences. I had been to Dublin and seen what the crime problem was like, I knew it was coming to Cork since the government had no intention of fixing a problem that they created for their own benefit (lots of money and power for politicians and their buddies).
Over the last 5 days though, I have come to realise that the reality is even worse than I imagined. I have personally witnessed multiple incidents in the city centre and walked onto the scene of a major incident in less than a week. I have seen a man get violent and threaten people for a few euros. I have seen a girl sitting in a car bursting into tears while her alleged attacker was standing a short distance away being questioned by Gardaí before he was arrested. I have been in a Garda Station as a member of LTT Media, waiting while statements were made by Aaron Joyce (who stopped the incident) and the victim of the alleged attempted sexual assault. I have seen so much in such little time.
Despite all this, I have also met great people and I am seeing a sense of community and unity among my fellow people of Cork building up. We are all at risk. We are all sacred for our neighbours, our families and our friends. In the end, this nightmare we are living through will be over and better days will come for us and the rest of Ireland. It will be hard and it won’t happen overnight but we will win if we fight for our city and our country.
The Tree that reaches Heaven has roots that reach Hell. The Nation that achieves greatness comes from a painful State.