Drinking in Fairview Park

Madam, - It is over four years since the Italian student Guido Nasi was attacked and paralysed by a thug in Dublin's Fairview…

Madam, - It is over four years since the Italian student Guido Nasi was attacked and paralysed by a thug in Dublin's Fairview Park.

Yet every spring and summer since that horrific assault, gangs of yobs and other anti-social types have congregated in the same spot, where they drink out of bags and intimidate passers-by.

During their drinking sessions they throw their cans, plastic holders and bags into the adjoining Tolka river and urinate on the nearest shrubbery.

What have the Guards done to stop this behaviour? Is drinking alcohol in a public park illegal, or is it not? Have we not learned from the Guido Nasi case at all?

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I urge the Minister for Justice to address this and other incidents of drinking in public places instead of continually avoiding the issue. I also urge the Guards to do their jobs, for God's sake. It's only a matter of time before another tragedy similar to that of July 1999 occurs in this park. - Yours, etc.,

GORDON KENNEDY, Marino, Dublin 3.