Digital Desk Staff
Updated at 09:40
The mayors of Dublin, Cork and Galway have called for members of the public to take personal responsibility following scenes of large crowds drinking outside at the weekend.
Lord mayor of Dublin Hazel Chu has said people cannot be told “not to gather”, but personal responsibility must be taken to observe social distancing.
“We have been advertising for an outdoor summer for quite a while, we’ve been telling people you’ll be able to enjoy the summer,” she told RTE’s Morning Ireland.
Increase more public spaces, increase more bins, increase more garda presence. And if you think I haven't asked for this many many times you're sadly mistaken.
Oh and stop blaming young people. Sure I had a 50 year old piss outside the house the other night.— Hazel Chu (@hazechu) May 30, 2021
“For a lot of people, they don’t have back gardens to be outside in, they can’t invite their friends over when they don’t have that space and we need to provide that space, safe space that people can gather within groups and the recommended guidelines,” she said.
In Dublin, Ms Chu said there had been an increase in rubbish collection, but more toilets were needed and while a tender had gone out, it was still at an “expressions of interest” stage.
“We should have been ready…we need to get this in check,” the Green Party councillor said.
On-street drinking
It comes after the news that parts of central Dublin could have controls introduced to curb on-street drinking and large gatherings of people, though senior gardaí say they are reluctant to significantly respond to scenes witnessed in parts of the city at the weekend.
Chief medical officer Dr Tony Holohan said he was “absolutely shocked” at scenes he witnessed just after 8pm on Saturday around South Great George’s Street, Exchequer Street and South William Street.
He said there were “enormous crowds – like a major open-air party” and feared that progress made to combat Covid-19 could be undone by gatherings of this nature.
As The Irish Times reports, video footage of large crowds eating and drinking on the streets later emerged on social media, and the area was very heavily littered when teams of Dublin City Council workers arrived for a clean-up operation on Sunday morning.
A number of Garda sources said areas could be fenced off in Dublin city centre to prevent crowds gathering in a similar fashion again. They added that other controls, such as those seen around Temple Bar on St Patrick’s Day, could be implemented.
This would involve a cordon being placed around areas and access points being manned by gardaí. While access would be open to anyone, places could be temporarily closed or people moved on should they become too congested.
Gardaí said the Public Order Unit, in “flat cap” mode rather than in riot attire, and the Garda Dog Unit were deployed in Dublin city centre at about 9pm on Saturday. (Photo by Artur Widak/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
Policing tactics
However, the sources were not in favour of such policing tactics being introduced at this stage given the apparent end of the pandemic was in sight.
“We’re nearly out of this period, and the schedule for reopening means a lot of pubs will be opened in just days and weeks, so to go in heavy-handed wouldn’t make much sense now,” said one officer.
He believed “more normalised socialising” would return after next weekend as outdoor hospitality reopened.
Gardaí said the Public Order Unit, in “flat cap” mode rather than in riot attire, and the Garda Dog Unit were deployed in Dublin city centre at about 9pm on Saturday.
People were asked to move on from South William Street and the surrounding area. Gardaí stressed people were well behaved and moved on when asked to do so, with four arrests for public order offences.
Garda headquarters said people congregating in Temple Bar and St Stephen’s Green were also dispersed by gardaí, though no arrests were made there.
It reminded people the Covid-19 public health guidelines were still in place and urged them “to avoid crowded areas and large gatherings”.
