St Patrick's night quieter than usual, says Garda

GARDAÍ AROUND the State have said St Patrick’s night was quieter than in previous years, despite a number of incidents in Dublin city centre, Cork and Limerick.

Emergency services were stretched in the capital with 212 ambulance cases, five house fires and 22 car fires reported between 6pm on St Patrick’s Day and 5am yesterday.

Nineteen other fires were reported, but there were no significant injuries in the blazes. There were also about a dozen minor stabbings. The Dublin Fire Brigade came under attack while responding to three emergency calls relating to car fires in the Finglas and Cherry Orchard areas.

A spokesman said stones and cans were thrown at crews, but there were no injuries. Gardaí in Pearse Street said incidents in the city centre were comparable to a normal Saturday night with a number of public order arrests. “It was not too bad considering the amount of people there were in town,” a spokesman said.

In Limerick, an 18-year-old youth died following a stabbing outside a house on Creaval Park, Moyross. The incident happened in the early hours of yesterday morning.

Limerick fire service responded to eight call-outs over the 24-hour period of St Patrick’s Day, including a number of car fires.

In Cork, three men were arrested yesterday in connection with two separate stabbing incidents on Tuesday night. All three were released without charge last night.

A man in his 20s was held at Gurranebraher Garda station in connection with an incident in which another man in his 20s was assaulted and stabbed with a golf club. The incident took place outside a fast food outlet on Blarney Street on the northside of the city at 12.10am.

The injured man was taken to Cork University Hospital but was later discharged.

A second attack took place at Park View Road, Fair Hill where a man in his 20s was stabbed at about 1.15am. The victim was taken to CUH where his condition was described yesterday as stable.

Two men were arrested in relation to the second incident yesterday and were also held at Gurranebraher Garda station.

In Cork city, approximately 15 arrests were made overnight following the festivities. A Garda spokesman said despite the arrests, it had been a quiet St Patrick’s night in comparison to previous years.

Gardaí in Donegal, Kilkenny and Galway also reported a quieter than usual St Patrick’s night.

And hospitals around the country said they were not particularly busy on Tuesday night.

A spokeswoman for Dublin’s Mater hospital said there was a slight increase in numbers attending AE between 1am and 4am, particularly in the 18 to 40 age bracket.

“There was nothing too untoward or unseemly; it was like an average weekend night,” she said.