A Government TD has hit out at local authorities in restricting where people can gather in public.
It comes as the bandstand in St Stephen’s Green in Dublin has been fenced off – over concerns about people congregating over the bank holiday weekend.
Fianna Fáil TD Marc MacSharry has said the Nazis could have done with some of the barriers being used by local authorities:
Deputy MacSharry said the State cannot “have it both ways”, officially encouraging an outdoor summer while blockages were put in the public’s way.
“This is replicated all over the country. Where I live in Strandhill (Co Sligo), there’s so many bollards on the seafront, I’d say had the Nazis done it in France on D-Day, God knows what the outcome of the war would have been.”
“We have a level of paranoia and scaremongering that is not consistent with either the numbers in hospital or the daily case numbers.
“We have the CMO (chief medical officer Dr Tony Holohan) tweeting over the course of the weekend his outrage over seeing people out doing what we taught them to do.”
“You can have a takeaway a pint, or a Coca Cola, but don’t congregate on the canal, because the gardaí are going to come along and throw it all out,” he complained.
“Where do we expect people to go? As we speak, over in Stephen’s Green we are fencing off the bandstand because the last thing we want is for people to congregate there.”
He added: “Let’s get give people the summer that they deserve. And then we might have the beginning of a recovery.”
OPW PRESS STATEMENT – St Stephen’s Green
2 June 2021
St Stephen’s Green is a National Monument and Historic Park beloved by the citizens of Dublin and Ireland.
The Green encompasses a number of important features including the Victorian Bandstand. We want visitors to enjoy the Green but OPW must also protect vulnerable historic features from vandalism and anti-social behaviour. In order to protect the historic bandstand from any further damage, a decision was taken to erect fencing to protect the structure.
We hope visitors will continue to enjoy the beautiful surrounds of the Park this weekend. The OPW appeals to the public to respect this important heritage site and its historic features, to respect our staff and fellow visitors, to bring their waste home with them and to behave responsibly when in the Park.
The OPW is liaising with An Garda Síochána in relation to the policing of St Stephen’s Green on an ongoing basis and will respond to any incidents should they arise.
