She also suggested the introduction of “curfews”.
Social Democrats councillor for Howth and Malahide, Joan Hopkins, has suggested raising the drinking age to 20 to combat anti-social behaviour in Ireland.
Hopkins was speaking after a woman fell under a train on 1 April in an incident at Howth Junction DART Station which is currently being investigated by Gardaí.
Footage of the incident shows the woman rushing to catch a train before being pushed over by two young men, resulting in her falling towards the tracks.
However, thankfully the woman was rescued by onlookers before the train left the platform.
She told Lunchtime Live that an increased Gardaí presence, as well as a “radical” introduction of curfews and an increased drinking age, could be useful in preventing similar incidents from occurring across the country.
“We have 40% fewer Guards in Ireland than the EU average, we need our Garda stations to open longer hours,” she said.
“The fact that this particular incident, this most recent incident, happened right outside Malahide Garda station it would really kind of frighten you a little bit.
“What I’d like to see is more dedicated community police, Guards that are consistently posted to one station, that they’re out and about, they’re visible, they’re getting to know the kids and the parents and the community.”
Hopkins added that she would like to see Ireland adopt a similar approach to Iceland and raise the national drinking age to 20.
“The programme is radical but it’s evidence-based and it relies a lot on enforced common sense.
“If we don’t do something about this, then we’re going to be talking about it next year and the year after.
“They changed the laws, they brought in a new age limit for alcohol, you have to be 20 to buy alcohol in Iceland, they introduced curfews.”
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