Gardaí report calm weekend

GARDAÍ HAD by yesterday evening reported a calm St Patrick’s weekend across the country, with the number of public order arrests in Dublin and other major urban centres within the norms for any weekend period.

Garda sources in Dublin, where the main trouble on St Patrick’s Day has arisen in the past, said the number of public order incidents gardaí were called in to deal with was “in no way out of the ordinary”.

While the number of arrests in Dublin has not yet been centrally compiled, it appears about 100 people in and around the city centre were detained by gardaí.

Gardaí said there were no major issues to report in and around Temple Bar and Grafton Street, which are traditionally the busiest on holiday periods.

“It seemed to us there were a huge amount of tourists in Dublin over the weekend, maybe more than usual, but it is hard to tell, and really there was nothing out of the ordinary,” said one source.

“In some places the number of arrests was running below what you’d expect for a busy Saturday night, everybody appeared in great form and it was pretty relaxed.”

Other sources said while it may take 24 to 48 hours to determine if some areas witnessed a higher number of public order arrests than normal, no major incidents had come to light yesterday.

In Dublin, at the Occupy Dame Street site at the Central Bank, gardaí took sleeping bags from a small number of protesters who had gathered at the site on Friday after it had been cleared last week.