Nothing saintly in Paddy’s Day behaviour

GARDAÍ in many of the country’s busiest districts were under orders only to arrest people as a last resort in Thursday’s St Patrick’s Day celebrations.

Yet more than 700 people were arrested in the 24-hour period to 6am yesterday.

While organisers of the parades across the country claimed they passed in good humour and peacefully, the evening brought a barrage of reports of drunken youths and public disorder.

Some of the incidents reported were terrifying.

Four drunken youths took the emergency hammers from a DART train at Howth junction and smashed 25 windows on two of the trains.

Gardaí are appealing for information on the incident, which happened around 6pm on Thursday.

In Bray DART station, three people were arrested after two security guards were assaulted after several youths attempted to evade fares.

Gardaí were called after a large scale fight broke out on a Bray-bound DART.

A 17-year-old underwent surgery after being stabbed during a late-night row at a house in Beaumont, north Dublin. He is in serious condition while a second teenager was also injured, though less seriously.

In Ballyfermot, west Dublin, gardaí are investigating an assault on a 26-year-old man. The man suffered head injuries and was taken to St James’ Hospital for treatment following the incident at 2am yesterday.

In total, 252 people were arrested for public order offences in the Dublin Metropolitan area.

In the Store Street district, 35 to 40 are arrested on an average Friday or Saturday. On St Patrick’s Day, 60 were picked up.

Supt Ray Barry said a large amount of drink was seized by gardaí. He said his instructions were that people should be arrested only as a last resort.

Those who were picked up were aggressively drunk and refused to comply with garda orders.

In Cork city and county, more than 70 people were arrested though no one suffered serious injuries in a number of violent incidents, mostly in the city centre.

The majority of those arrested were in their 20s and a number were women.

A garda spokesman said they were busy from 7pm, when it began to turn “quite messy”.

In Limerick, a city centre pub closed its doors at 6.40pm on St Patrick’s Day after a drunken brawl escalated into a mini-riot.

A number of gardaí received minor injuries including cuts and bruises when they arrived at the Catherine Street pub to quell the disturbance.

Windows and glasses were smashed in the bar and witnesses said that pool cues were used as weapons in the violent fracas.

Four people were initially arrested but three more were later detained when they tried to intervene as gardaí attempted to take the suspects into custody.

A garda spokesman said they would be examining footage from closed circuit television cameras to decide whether further people would be charged.

Some 56 revellers were arrested in Limerick.

The ambulance service in the city reported a three-fold increase in the number of calls compared to a normal week night and 90% of these are understood to have involved alcohol-related incidents.

More than 20 people were arrested in Waterford on St Patrick’s Day, some of them for drunken behaviour before lunchtime.

A further four arrests were made in the city area for drink driving, gardaí have confirmed.

It was one of the busiest St Patrick’s Day on record in the city station, with gardaí also dealing with the suspicious death of 49-year-old Thomas Jordan.

A man was subsequently arrested and charged in relation to the incident.

There were a further 15 allegations of assault and numerous calls to gardaí to deal with complaints of youths drinking in the city as revellers gathered for the parade.

Drunken behaviour is also said to have been the cause of damage to dozens of cars across the city.

Vehicles parked in the Glen, Hennessy’s Road and Thomas Hill areas were damaged.

In Galway, a 19-year-old man was stabbed in the head at Claddagh Quay. A man was later arrested.

In Drogheda, a youth was seriously injured after a bottle was smashed across his head. Fifteen people were arrested in the town.

Eighteen people were arrested for public order offences during disturbances in Belfast and Derry.

The PSNI came under attack from crowds of revellers in Maghera, Co Derry, when officers who tried to break up a mob fight in Main Street were attacked with pool balls and bottles.