Wandroz

Neighbourhood safety for travellers

Ballymun-Finglas (Ballymun, Finglas, Santry) — Dublin, Ireland

🟡 Local-source safety assessment · 11 areas reviewed individually Methodology →

Average day Higher caution advised night

In detail

This LEA — covering Ballymun, Finglas, and Santry — shows a well-documented, ongoing pattern of gangland violence concentrated in Ballymun and Finglas, with Santry itself returning no notable safety coverage. Finglas has a long-running drugs-related feud: in November 2023, 23-year-old Brandon Ledwidge was shot dead in a gangland attack tied to a drugs gang dispute, with houses subsequently boarded up as the feud escalated (Irish Times). Fatal stabbings followed in June 2024 and again in November 2024, when a man in his 60s (Mark Carroll) died after an assault, though gardai said he was not the intended target (RTE, Irish Times, Irish Examiner). Ballymun has seen an intensifying and very current feud: a house was petrol-bombed with two people hospitalised, a house was left with bullet holes after a shooting, and a bullet was fired into the bedroom of a sleeping three-year-old, alongside a grenade-style explosion that damaged four homes in May 2026 (Crime World, TheJournal.ie). In October 2025 a man in his 30s was seriously injured in a broad-daylight attack in Ballymun (TheJournal.ie). Most alarmingly, in April 2026 a child discharged a handgun dropped by a suspect fleeing gardai in Ballymun, prompting local representatives to call it a "crisis" requiring government intervention (RTE, Irish Times, dublinpeople.com, Social Democrats statement). Gardai have responded with repeated raids, drug/weapon seizures, and newly launched high-visibility patrols to disrupt criminal activity. Given the frequency, recency, and severity — multiple shootings, murders, explosives, and firearms reaching a child — this pattern is serious and ongoing rather than isolated, though the violence is largely feud-targeted rather than random street crime affecting casual visitors, and daytime incidents are less frequent than nighttime ones. Sources checked: Irish Times (irishtimes.com); RTE (rte.ie); TheJournal.ie (thejournal.ie); Irish Examiner (irishexaminer.com); Crime World (crimeworld.com); Garda.ie official press releases (garda.ie); Dublin People (dublinpeople.com).

Search accommodation here on Booking.com →

This link is already scoped to this area (not the whole city), using the neighbourhood's real coordinates.

This rating comes from a structured local-source assessment. This specific area was reviewed against credible local sources — local and national news, municipal and police-published material, and official surveys where they exist — and the signals were consolidated across sources rather than taken from any single report, with the reasoning and the sources shown above. Dublin publishes no comparable neighbourhood-level crime dataset; where a city does publish one, Wandroz uses it instead of an assessment. Where a review finds nothing documented, that is recorded as no findings rather than as a safety rating.

Frequently asked questions

Is Ballymun-Finglas (Ballymun, Finglas, Santry) safe?

Wandroz currently rates Ballymun-Finglas (Ballymun, Finglas, Santry) in Dublin as roughly average compared to other neighbourhoods in Dublin during the day and an area where the data suggests extra caution relative to other neighbourhoods in Dublin at night. This comes from a structured local-source assessment: an area-level review of credible local sources — local and national news, municipal and police-published material, and official surveys where they exist — consolidated across sources rather than taken from a single report. Dublin publishes no comparable neighbourhood-level crime dataset; where a city does, Wandroz uses it instead.

Is Ballymun-Finglas (Ballymun, Finglas, Santry) safe at night?

At night, Ballymun-Finglas (Ballymun, Finglas, Santry) is rated as an area where the data suggests extra caution relative to other neighbourhoods in Dublin. If you're unsure, it's worth checking recent local reviews for your specific street or block, since a neighbourhood-wide rating can't capture block-by-block variation.

Is Ballymun-Finglas (Ballymun, Finglas, Santry) a good area to stay in as a tourist?

Ballymun-Finglas (Ballymun, Finglas, Santry)'s day rating (roughly average compared to other neighbourhoods in Dublin) is the more relevant one for typical daytime tourist activity; check the night rating too if you'll be out late. Note that the Booking.com link on this page searches Ballymun, not Ballymun-Finglas (Ballymun, Finglas, Santry) specifically: Booking does not list this neighbourhood as a destination of its own, so check each property's address against the map above.

Is there official crime data for Ballymun-Finglas (Ballymun, Finglas, Santry)?

Not an official government crime feed — Ballymun-Finglas (Ballymun, Finglas, Santry)'s rating comes from Wandroz's own current local/national press and survey research for this specific area instead (see the note on this page for what was checked and the sources used). An absence of recent negative coverage is treated as inconclusive, not as proof the area is safe. If you live in or know Ballymun-Finglas (Ballymun, Finglas, Santry) well, you can suggest a correction using the link below.

See something wrong or out of date on this page? Report a correction →