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LAST UPDATE | 5 Jun 2021
GARDAÍ HAVE MAINTAINED a visible presence in Dublin’s city centre today following a number of public order incidents last night during which one garda was injured.
The incidents centred around South William Street, Saint Stephen’s Green Park and Templebar Square yesterday evening. Fourteen people, including five juveniles were arrested.
A large number of gardaí were on duty and videos, circulating on social media, show officers, with batons drawn, advancing up South William Street.
The area was scene to similar scenes last week which caused an angry response from Chief Medical Officer Dr Tony Holohan.
There have been no reports today of similar incidents, but gardaí have maintained a visible presence in the city centre, with members of the public order unit patrolling and reportedly telling people drinking alcohol in public to dump their drinks.
In a statement this morning An Garda Síochána confirmed reports that gardaí were attacked with bottles and other missiles.
“Large crowds were present in Dublin City Centre with the vast majority of persons socialising responsibly and enjoying outdoor activity.
“A number of public order incidents occurred at various locations in the South City Centre, primarily involving large ‘organised groups’ congregating at a number of locations including South William Street, Saint Stephen’s Green Park and Templebar Square.
“A significant uniform Garda presence was on patrol and interacted with various groups. In particular whilst interacting with a specific group at South William street, glass bottles and other missiles were thrown at Gardai.
“Having attempted to engage with these persons, with no positive response, Uniform Gardai, supported by ‘soft cap’ Public Order Gardai then dispersed this particular group from South William Street,” the statement said.
The garda statement outlined the numbers of arrests and an injury sustained by a garda at the scene.
“In total, 14 people (nine adults and five juveniles) were arrested for public order offences and detained at Pearse Street and Kevin Street Garda Stations. Six persons were charged with public order offences and released. Two persons received the Adult Caution while one was released pending a summons for public order offences. The five juveniles were released and referred for JLOs (Juvenile Liaison Officer cautions).
“One Garda member sustained a leg injury and received hospital treatment. One Garda Patrol Vehicle was damaged,” the statement added.
Videos showed assaults on the streets as groups of people were drinking. One of those incidents was an extremely violent engagement on Castle Market Street where a large group beat a man on the ground.
Other videos showed incidents in Templebar and also an assault in a Dublin city centre train station.
Separately gardaí have confirmed that a man was assaulted on Thursday night.
The Journal has learned that the victim was a shop keeper who was attacked after the window of a shop was broken.
“Gardaí are investigating an assault that occurred on Drury St in Dublin on Thursday 3 June 2021, at approximately 11.10pm.
“A man in his 20s received medical treatment following the incident. No arrests have been made but investigations are ongoing,” a spokesperson said.
Local business group Dublin can Be Heaven said that the victim was a member of their group and explained what happened.
“The shop window of one of our members was smashed, his son who works in the business was attacked outside the premises. He was brought to hospital with facial injuries. His injuries will heal but you will have to imagine the trauma he suffered.
“The situation as regards anti social behaviour in the city centre has been deteriorating through the week, with videos of drunkeness and fighting going the rounds,” they said in a statement.
Frank Thornton, Garda Representative Association President, said the risk around Covid-19 infections among gardaí is heightened in such incidents.
“Incidents such as last night highlight the extreme difficulties and dangers that frontline gardai face while policing such large gatherings.
“As restrictions ease the safety of our members must be supported by adequate real time resources to adequately serve and protect the public during such events.
“It is also a major concern that the GRA’s calls for government recognition as a ‘high-risk’ Covid grouping have been continually ignored yet our members are expected to deal with such challenging, largely unvaccinated gatherings,” he said.
Antoinette Cunningham of Association of Garda Sergeants and Inspectors criticised the incident.
On Twitter she said: “Throwing missiles at colleagues as they continue to police Government Health Regulations due to #COVID19 is simply wrong…Gardai have a very challenging job to do & deserve to be safe”.
Throwing missiles at @AGSI_Ireland & @gardarep @GRA_NR colleagues as they continue to police Government Health Regulations due to #COVID19 is simply wrong...Gardai have a very challenging job to do & deserve to be safe https://t.co/LSBBbcZfYW
— antoinette (@antoabs) June 5, 2021
Speaking on RTE Radio this morning, Daniel Smith of Grogans’ on South William Street spoke about his concerns around the incidents on the street outside his pub.
“We’re very concerned on things last night.
“We’ve never had any issues like that when businesses have been open, and obviously the gardaí did their absolute best. There needs to be more resources put in place for the guys to deal with this at the minute because it is becoming a serious issue,” he said.
Daniel said that there needs to be more gardaí in the area to deal with the problem.
“There’s been an influx into the city centre in recent weeks of a crowd that would not normally be in the city centre.
“It’s just a small minority who come in looking to cause trouble. And it’s kind of permeating through social media – it’s a very small minority, but they really need to be dealt with,” he added.
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Good.
We all owe farmers a huge debt of gratitude for working morning, noon and night to feed us.
Farmers own and look after the land. They do it silently and without fanfare.
The Greens know nothing about the land yet they pontificate about it endlessly from their suburban mansions
If the Greens had their way there would be no farming and society would collapse.
Next time a Green politician or an environmentalist tried to spoof you look down and ask them : “Where’s your wellingtons then? Go on with yeh”
@Tommy Haze: Well said spot on
@Tommy Haze: they work for profit and we don’t buy their good with credit, so there’s no debt.
@Tommy Haze: I grew up on a farm. We worked on it to make money. We didn’t do it just to supply food, and I’m fairly certain we wouldn’t have given free food to those who couldn’t afford to pay for it. Farming is a job, just like nursing, carpentry, teaching etc etc.
@Tommy Haze: It’s funny how Aviation and it’s expansion according to the Greens and the government is an economic necessity and is off limits when it comes to carbon emissions, the wealthy airlines benefit from Zero tax on aviation fuel, Zero binding emission target, government subsidised routes and have no realistic way of decoupling growth from emissions. It seems to be one set of rules for the DAA and wealthy airlines and another for the farmers, turf cutters and the rest of us or maybe the DAA a Semi-state company just like RTE has a barter account to compensate the media for greenwashing their industry.
@brian o’leary: If you were to factor in the hours worked, it’s definitely not a profitable business. One of the few industries that don’t get to set their own prices and charge what is fair, or indeed profitable. It’s below minimum wage if you factor in hours worked. More work related deaths than any other job in Ireland. It accounts for approx 7.1% of employment and that doesn’t factor in the jobs in the construction industry related to agriculture. They mind the land, hoping the next generation will do so too. So I think Tommy is spot on when he says we owe them a debt of gratitude. But then again, some people will always have these false and lazy ideas about farmers.
@Helen Murphy: markets don’t deal in “fair”, if the going is too tough, sell up, and let someone else “mind” it.
@brian o’leary: Really? Your grasp of agricultural economics seems to be either poor or purposely biased. Tell nurses, teachers, shop workers that this is what you’re getting, shut up or someone else will do it. If farmers were to charge the cost of production plus a small % for profit, or as you say “not deal in fair” , and charge what the like, you would be moaning your hole off about the price of food. Why doesn’t the EU set the prices for other industries? The grants are a sly way of allowing multinational food processors make huge profits, whilst those with no knowledge of rural Ireland think farmers are coining it.
@Helen Murphy: “it’s definitely not a profitable”
Dairy farms made a record average profit of €148,000 last year.
@Helen Murphy: “it’s definitely not a profitable”
“The CSO’s final estimate of agricultural Operating Surplus for 2022 shows an annual increase of €1.0bn (+28%) to €4.7bn. The value of Agricultural Output at Basic Prices rose by €2.8bn (+28%) to €12.9bn.”
Thus Irish farms made a profit of €4.7 billion last year.
Average Operating profit per farm in 2022 according to Teagasc:
Dairy €151,000 (and 53% higher than 2021)
Cattle rearing farms: €9,400
Cattle finishing farms: €18,800
Sheep: €16,500
Tillage: €77,000
Mixed livestock: €84,340
Average faming family income: €45,800 (increase of 32% from 2021, mostly because of rise in income on dairy and tillage farms).
@David Jordan: There’s no validity to your argument. Dairy farmers start at 6am every morning and don’t finish until late in the evening. Early hours of the morning at certain times of the year. 7 days a week. Might get to take a weeks holiday in the summer if their lucky. Per hour worked its an absolute pittance. Do the maths.
@Helen Murphy: then sell up, move on and let someone else at it.
FFG are destroying our agri sector . We should be pushing for self sufficiency , especially now in the days of supply uncertainty. It would appear though the government are pushing reliability on other countries and being at the mercy of international markets .
Why do we import broccoli, veg etc from Kenya . Potatoes from the uk etc
@BL Music: we import food because it’s cheaper. We produce the best quality beef, with the toughest regulations in place, in terms of antibiotic use, herd health etc. Beef is then imported from Brazil where there are no regulations, because as much as people preach about buying local, it comes down to price.
Same with our barley, wheat etc, certain chemicals/pesticides banned here for use in their production, but not on the cheaper grains that we import.
Green agenda throughout the world is ruining agriculture. Billionaires are buying up land (Dyson is biggest farm owner in UK, bill Gates one of the biggest in USA) solely to use the land to offset carbon credits for their own non agri business, so they can claim they are producing Carbon Zero products
Farming is becoming more industrialised and less family owned or ran. In a few decades, you’ll see managers running about 5 farms and sub contractors doing the ploughing/silage/milking! The family farm, will become rare and die out eventually.
@John John: Why would you want to see it die out?
@John John: over 7% of the population are employed in the agriculture sector and you’d like to see all those people with families and mortgages lose their jobs? What’s your problem with farming? Did a farmer’s son bully you in school or take your place on the football team?
Just teach them not to destroy hedgerows, and stop washing the slurry tanks in the rivers.
@Opinion is free but facts are sacred: washing slurry tanks in the rivers?? Where did you come up with that?
@Opinion is free but facts are sacred: why would a farmer wash a slurry tank? Ireland ranks 1st in Europe on how little nitrogen is in our rivers thanks to our farmers. If you ate today you should thank a farmer for that too.
@Mike Looney 88: maybe their custom could be their thanks?
@Opinion is free but facts are sacred: where are going with absolutely crazy statement! I have never in my life even heard of a farmer washing a slurry tanker in a river. Have you ever been on a farm? The Irony of your made up user name is off the charts.
@Opinion is free but facts are sacred: I agree, and what are they hiding inside those big sheds that no one else is allowed in?
What is the difference between this and the green cert? Or even the farm relief who are finding it hard to source labour?Just looks like people who don’t work on farms looking to get paid to work behind a desk coming up with this idea.
Will Eamon Ryan and his Green Party be doing this course, considering they keep telling farmers they’re farming wrong? So will it be Eamon Ryan Green Party and Rte learning curriculum ?
I want to know because nature has respected farming and horticultural practices for centuries. The infestation of Ash tree die back disease is a notifiable disease yet our local council in Fingal will do nothing .
The muck spreader was often washed in the river, hedges taken out, round up under the electric wire along the drain, wet bales stacked 3high near the drain, old plastic and tyres buried when the digger was in, New weanlings bought in given a shot of antibiotics as a preventative….many of above done by me and my neighbouring farms, and not 20years ago either
@hi from heaven: so tell me about washing the muck spreader in the river..maybe start with why? In all my years on farms, never heard this being done
@Martin Kenny: We would drive into the river and start filling with buckets as quickly as possible, due to leaks.then drive up the Field and empty it out… this was done 2-3 times
@hi from heaven: side muck spreader not back empty one
@hi from heaven: right, learn something new every day. Think you should give up farming, you’re doing it wrong
So some Gombeen wants to create more low paid jobs in the farming industry…. If you pay peanuts, you get monkeys…. It’s called Slave Labour
If farmers really cared about the land (and not just income) the IFA would not object to every environmental Idea that is floated
Maybe farmers should pay more if they can’t get workers?
Crikey, so many keyboard warriors leaving comments – most of whom demonstrate their ignorance in a magnificent way. Farming, is hard, dirty, difficult, and underpaid. But its hard with to compete with those “clean boot experts” who know oh so much better.
We would drive into the river and start filling with buckets as quickly as possible, due to leaks.then drive up the Field and empty it out… this was done 2-3 times
have your say