Parents have become extremely worried for the safety of their children after a number of reported muggings have been taking place at a popular Dublin seaside town - the latest of which allegedly "involved a knife".
There has been a series of scary reports of youngsters being mugged in Malahide.
These alleged muggings have been going on for almost a month with several locals warning parents to not let their children go to the funfair unattended.
Fianna Fáil TD for Dublin Fingal, Darragh O'Brien told Dublin Live that the first report of the disturbing allegations had taken place three weeks ago.
His brother Eoghan O'Brien, Mayor of Fingal County Council said that contact has been made with the gardai about it.
He said: "I got in touch with gardai who confirmed that they were currently investigating the incident that took place at 5pm on Wednesday evening.
"A constituent got in touch with me to say that his son had been targeted and that the attackers had weapons with them - knives and baseball bats.
"This is only one of several similar attacks that have been reported in the area in the month of July alone.
"I have heard of it happening in two different popular spots in Malahide but I have been unable to verify 100% which one it is, or if it's both.
"This is something that has seemed to be going on for a very long time now in Malahide and it's simply down to lack of gardai.
"There is no garda station in the area. The gardai in Dublin at the moment are operating on shoestring resources throughout the county and it's having a massive influence on the rise of violence in the capital."
One local said that it was "very sad to hear that incidents like this take place in Malahide".
They continued: "We welcome the annual visit of the funfair but I wonder if providing security in and around the immediate vicinity is a feature of a license being granted for this or any other event that takes place in Malahide.
"Events like this and concerts attract a lot of visitors and adequate security should be central to any planning to try and avoid situations like this."
