EIGHT people were injured and taken to hospital last night after a piece of plaster ceiling collapsed in a busy Dublin city centre public house shortly before closing time.
Drinkers in O'Neill's, Suffolk Street, were evacuated by bar staff after a part of the ceiling collapsed in the snug of the ground-floor lounge at 10.50 p.m. The injured were being treated in the Meath Hospital. None of the injuries was "very serious," according to a hospital spokeswoman.
The pub, which was packed with Friday night revellers, was evacuated within five minutes after the ceiling collapsed, according to eyewitnesses. "At around ten to eleven the commotion started and the barmen anxiously tried to get the crowd to leave the pub. At first people were a bit sceptical because they thought it was just a method of getting people to leave," said Mr Cormac Little (26) who was there with two friends.
There were calls for medical assistance on the pub's intercom - shortly alter the incident, according to another witness.
One of the barmen, Mr Finbar O'Mahony, said an architect was being consulted following the accident. The owner could not be contacted last night.
A Garda spokesman said that the cause was under investigation but that panic had been avoided during the incident. Gardai diverted traffic around Dawson and Nassau Streets while four ambulances and four units of Dublin Fire Brigade attended the scene.