Pity the pizza guy who is knocked off his bike and beaten

 Dublin’s north inner city is not a place you want to be assigned if you are a Deliveroo driver. These (mostly) young men of non-Irish backgrounds are finding it’s a war zone, where they are likely to be attacked, robbed, assaulted as they try, of all innocuous things, to deliver some noodles or a pizza.

 The problem has been festering for some time, and appeared on the national news again this weekend. The chief elements are boredom and racism. Youths with nothing to do,  suffering from a large dose of Covid lockdown frustration, appear to have found the cyclists with the grey and green Deliveroo boxes on their backs a tempting target. Rocks are thrown, knives are drawn, money taken. 

 And now the Deliveroo victims, it seems, are fighting back. Simmering anger was stoked to a dreadful degree by the death of Brazilian man Thiago Cortes in August 2020. Although Cortes was killed by a joyriding car driven by teenagers, the suspicion that he was targeted as a Deliveroo driver remains. 

 

Inevitably, there are some areas which are regarded as no-go by the food delivery workers. But this means that they are getting less work, the restaurants, beleaguered by lockdown restrictions, are losing business, and last but not least, the basic right to safe passage around a city which Dublin’s authorities should guarantee is vanishing.

 

Mobile phone footage of a rampaging group in the centre of Dublin shown on RTE news might have only been an isolated incident, but it was appalling and would put fear into the heart of anyone who lives or has to work in that area.

 

Covid-19 compounds so many situations: many of the Deliveroo drivers, casual workers in the cursed (my description) gig economy, might have been earning their living in bars or restaurants, or retail, if any of these options existed. But there’s been effectively none of that in Ireland for a year, and no prospect for another few months at least. Delivery of takeaway meals is one healthy sector, and the only option for a lot of young people, far away from their home countries so with no familial or institutional support. They are not even eligible for the Government’s Pandemic Unemployment Payment as they were not regularly employed before the start of the lockdowns.

 

It's an awful situation, and the only answer seems to be better security – but more policing in areas which law officers will tell you are already delicate might have a counter-productive effect. The main areas of danger are Sheriff Street, North King Street, and Pearse Street on the south side, according to this RTE report.

 

Locals have defended their community, saying there is actually much prejudice against some Irish people living in these areas. The death of a 16-year-old local boy in a knife attack is connected to the violence. And in a twist, an organisation representing English language students (of whom many Deliveroo cyclists are) has written to the Brazilian Embassy asking them to tell their nationals not to use racist language against those who, presumably, are their assailants.

 

This idea of Ireland as a non-racist, accepting society, often shows itself to be full of holes when under strain.