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Pictures: The aftermath after wheelie bin set alight in old disused bandstand in Dublin park

The shelter had actually been due to be taken down by Dublin City Council until Sunday’s fire.

DUBLIN FIRE BRIGADE responded to reports of a fire in Donnybrook’s Herbert Park on Sunday night, but locals are relieved that it was a disused shelter rather than the famous bandstand that was set alight.

The bandstand in the park was featured in the video for Phil Lynott’s 1982 hit Old Town, but there is another shelter in the park that was set alight on Sunday night.

It is understood that this particular shelter, that had been fenced off by Dublin City Council, was a hub of anti-social behaviour in the area for some time.

20180109_104644 DCC DCC

The shelter had actually been deemed dangerous by officials but groups of young people had taken to gathering around it at night time.

Dublin City Council was in the process of drafting plans to remove the shelter itself before Sunday’s fire.

It is understood that a wheelie bin was brought beyond the barrier, placed in the middle of the shelter and set alight.

20180109_104638 DCC DCC

Labour councillor Dermot Lacey told TheJournal.ie: “When I heard it was a bandstand set alight, I was really hoping it was the old disused one.

It would have been such a pity if it was the other one. In fact only on Monday I tabled a motion to put a memorial to Phil Lynott at that bandstand.
Of course, any vandalism is unacceptable. But people have been gathering there at night time for quite a while.

20180109_104625 DCC DCC

It is understood that the one that was set on fire had been “ready to fall anyway”, and that there was no real long-term future for it at the park.

With charred remains all that is now left, a clean-up is now under way.

Read: Two hurt as fire breaks out on roof of Trump Tower in New York

Read: Incredible photos show aftermath of massive fire in Liverpool car park

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    Mute Type17
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    Jan 10th 2018, 7:47 AM

    People might like the “good” bandstand, and be relieved that it’s not the one that has been vandalised, but DCC are vandalising it by neglect – missing slates are allowing water into the roof-space, and the balustrades are rotting at their ends and many individual pieces of wood are actually past saving.

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    Mute Mark Johnson
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    Jan 10th 2018, 12:05 PM

    @Type17: Public property will always be vandalised or destroyed in Ireland.
    In Australia for example, they can have outdoor barbeque and dining facilities in most open public parks that are spotlessly clean, intact and not vandalised.

    It is a lack of respect here. Even rubbish bins get vandalised, not just old style structures ffs!.

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    Mute john bennett
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    Jan 10th 2018, 7:53 AM

    What is about society today that young people feel free to cause such vandalism today but did not do it 30 years ago, after all the bandstand featured in a Phil lynnot video

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    Mute John Doe
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    Jan 10th 2018, 8:50 AM

    @john bennett: did not do it 30yrs ago?? What bubble were you living in? My local primary school got set on fire in the mid eighties. The skinheads, rockers and mods were all at home doing their homework.
    Just because we didn’t have a fraction of the media reports doesn’t mean this sort of thing didn’t happen

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    Mute Tricksy
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    Jan 10th 2018, 9:24 AM

    @John Doe: and now 30years on , their kids are doing it ?its handed on

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    Mute The Watcher
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    Jan 10th 2018, 10:52 AM

    @john bennett: strangely enough, just 40 years ago, another Victorian shelter was burnt down in Herbert park by vandals. The shelter was adjacent to the beautiful pergola that DCC also neglected and has also gone from the park. So this vandalism mass always been around. In fact, back in the 80s a number of new trees were chopped down by a local lad for his mother’s fire. In the 90s into the 2000s, there were many fires at night in the park. Usually in bins near the pond. The latest shed fire is very unfortunate. This is one of the last pieces of structure in the park from the great exhibition when the park opened. Almost all original features are gone, either through neglect or vandalism.

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    Mute Mark Johnson
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    Jan 10th 2018, 12:01 PM

    @john bennett: it was not the phil lynott bandstand near the herbert park hotel that was set alight. it was another one.

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    Mute Mr. H
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    Jan 10th 2018, 2:52 PM

    @john bennett: it’s always happened, we just hear about everything now in our intensely interconnected world.

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    Mute gerry fallon
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    Jan 10th 2018, 8:17 AM

    That Ballsbridge area is an awful rough kip .
    I wouldn’t live there for any money!

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    Mute Sean @114
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    Jan 10th 2018, 8:53 AM

    @gerry fallon: the D4 welfare class. Inner city ghetto, should be bulldozed.

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    Mute Brian O Reilly
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    Jan 10th 2018, 7:12 AM

    Why not build shelters for the kids ,call them social centres of excellence.

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    Mute Susanne Morgan
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    Jan 10th 2018, 11:25 AM

    When those parks were set up, they were adapted to our climate … with shelters, to shelter from rainshowers during a walk (with or without children). I remember trips to Herbert Park in the 80s to feed the ducks with the children and the shelters were very much appreciated. Maybe they should be re-instated and a little CCTV camera might keep an eye on them and catch any so-and-so, that’s trying to vandalise them.

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    Mute Stuart Dickens
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    Jan 10th 2018, 9:33 AM

    Surely thats not D4… Surely…

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    Mute Thomas McDonald
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    Jan 10th 2018, 9:30 AM

    Never saw any young people hanging around but there were some homeless people using it as shelter before the council declared it dangerous. Wasn’t much use to anyone being fenced off so maybe they’ll actually restore it now

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    Mute The Watcher
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    Jan 10th 2018, 10:53 AM

    @Thomas McDonald: the homeless people did no harm there and kept to themselves. I believe the shed was boarded up and declared dangerous, just to get rid of them.

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    Mute Kevin Slater
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    Jan 10th 2018, 9:50 AM

    Wow now D4 can finally look the rest of Dublin in the eye!

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    Mute Seth Cheffetz
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    Jan 10th 2018, 7:22 AM

    Those darn young people, they scare me!

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