TDs and senators should strengthen legislation so that fines for urinating in public are in thousands of euro rather than tens, according to a senior GAA official.
Croke Park stadium director Peter McKenna said the GAA was putting up 24 permanent signs calling on fans to be respectful of the residential area around the arena, not to litter and to keep noise levels down.
As local residents face the effects of the latter stages of the All-Ireland championships and the hundreds of thousands of fans who will attend matches until the finals in September, Mr McKenna said consistent efforts had been made to deal with the problem. The GAA and gardaí believed TDs should strengthen the legislation for public order offences such as urinating in public with serious fines, rather than criticising the GAA and gardaí.
His comments came as Indpendent TD Tony Gregory urged the Minister for Justice to introduce on-the-spot fines for people urinating in public. Mr Gregory, in whose Dublin Central constituency Croke Park is located, also said that all the agencies involved had been "fairly neglectful of their responsibilities" in this area until now.
Mr Gregory has raised the issue in the Dáil a number of times and said he had asked Croke Park, as part of its advertising of matches, to urge people not to litter and not to urinate in the area.
The stadium director said the 24 signs would be erected at the top of each road leading directly into Croke Park.
Asked whether the signs would refer to the perennial problem of people urinating in gardens and streets around the stadium, Mr McKenna said that "residents are unlikely to want permanent signs in their neighbourhood saying that 'adults are requested not to foul the streets'.
"Everything has to be tasteful."
He added: "We're all making a huge effort to tackle that behaviour."
Senior gardaí with responsibility for the Croke Park and the north inner city areas were unavailable for comment.
