Plaza closed after residents complained of 'streams of urine' and 'pure hell' of public drinking

Portobello Plaza in Dublin, which has been shut and fenced off by Dublin City Council due to large numbers of people engaging in "unacceptable" behaviour along the Grand Canal in recent weekends. Photograph: Leah Farrell / RollingNews.ie

A popular public plaza was shut after local residents wrote to complain of “streams of urine” on their streets, people offering money to use their bathrooms, open drug dealing, along with threats and intimidation.

Dublin City Council faced a backlash after deciding to close down Portobello Plaza because of large crowds gathering in the area at weekends.

However, correspondence to the council reveals local residents wrote of “pure hell” living beside the canal harbour and one said they had been forced to sell their home.

One email said: “Our apartment is up for sale as it has become so bad and the last two years have honestly been pure hell.”

Another wrote of moving into the area, understanding it might be busy but said “we really couldn’t prepare ourselves for what was actually to come”.

They said people urinated across the street from them throughout the weekend, along with constant loud music, screaming, and singing.

The couple said earplugs made no difference. An email said: “We see people getting arrested, we have people trying to offer us money to use our bathroom, we see and hear fights escalating because someone has made a pass at someone else’s significant other.” 

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Another email wrote of how many people had been forced to move out of the area because of constant drinking and noise on the plaza.

A young couple with a toddler said they had bought their house in 2016 only to face weekends of “public urination, defecation, open selling and use of drugs, graffiti, smashing glass bottles, drinking etc”.

In one case, the resident confronted a man who was urinating beside their house.

The email said: “He turned and pointed his p**** towards her and sprayed urine in her direction while telling her to f**k off.” 

She phoned the gardaí but the attitude was largely ‘what do you expect, it’s the canal and we have limited resources’.

Local woman Juliana Hearty cleaning the river of rubbish at Portobello Lock Dublin after a large gathering in the area. Photo Sasko Lazarov/Rollingnews.ie

Another resident said putting up signs about public urination was not going to make any difference.

“That harbour needs to be closed down,” they said. “It’s a drain on resources of Garda also. You’d need to have a garda there 24/7 indefinitely.”

On another occasion, a fake sign was erected encouraging people to urinate outside houses, according to one email.

In response to queries, the council said there were no plans to install public toilets in Portobello but that the cleaning regime in the area would be “intensified”.

Dublin City Council’s decision to close Portobello Plaza also met with another flurry of correspondence from people criticising the decision.

One email said: “Maybe if you opened up more public spaces, closed roads and installed public toilets and facilities then you wouldn’t have to worry about 1000s of people congregating in one spot.” 

Another wrote simply: “How during a pandemic can you justify closing public spaces? Words fail me.” 

One young person who used the plaza said the council decision would backfire on public health grounds as people would instead attend house parties.

“Shutting down public spaces is the worst possible move,” they said. 

“The public drinking by-laws need to be addressed and anti-social behaviour will become social behaviour.” 

In response, Dublin City Council said it is “very aware” of the importance of public spaces but that behaviour in this area had become “completely unacceptable”.