A Dublin pub has said it is “furious” after footage emerged on social media, reportedly showing a large crowd drinking outside its premises Saturday evening.
Grogans Castle Lounge on South William Street said yesterday marked eight months of the pub being closed due to Covid-19 restrictions, with revellers leaving its premises in a “disgraceful state” after an apparent breach of Covid-19 restrictions on gatherings.
In a tweet, the pub said: “8 months closed yesterday. Deemed unsafe to operate by NPHET and Gov. Is this safer?”
“Clearly nearby properties don’t have to follow the rules. Our premises is in a disgraceful state this morning with tons of rubbish and people using it as a toilet.
“We are furious this morning.”
Following the footage and the rubbish left by the crowd, Daniel Grogan of the pub told the Irish Times the incident had put him “over the edge.”
“I am livid," he said. “We are all just so fed up, we have been closed since March and not put a cent through our till since then as we have completely adhered to the rules.
“But then you see pubs selling takeaway pints and people buying drink in off-licences and coming down here. We had it in June and we have it again now, it has been going on long enough.”
Mr Grogan said there had “easily been at least 400 people on the street. Where the guards? Surely they knew there was such a large congregation of people in the area?”
Gardaí
Gardaí said they responded to reports of a large gathering of people on the street and maintained a presence in the area.
“Gardaí attended the scene and requested all persons to disperse,” a Garda spokesman said.
“Gardaí maintained a presence in the area. No breaches of regulations were detected. A number of patrols were conducted in the area over the course of the evening.”
Mr Grogan told The Irish Times that on several mornings in recent weeks he has been left to clean up rubbish, urine and faeces from directly outside his pub.
“I would be very concerned that Nphet and the Government would look at footage like this and use it as a reason not to allow pubs to reopen despite the fact that we are a controlled environment and behave much more responsibly than this," he said.
