Diageo should pay to clean up our streets after Arthur’s Day

When eminent emergency consultant Stephen Cusack describes the streets of Cork as being like the “last days of Sodom and Gomorrah” (Irish Examiner, Sept 29), it scarcely leaves anything to the imagination with regard to the “success” of Diageo’s day of disaster.

If your own newspaper report by Claire O’Sullivan is reliable (and I’m sure that it is) then Arthur’s Day must have been a nightmare of biblical proportion!

The description by a fast food trader in Washington Street who posted that “a walk through the city at 4am before the street cleaners would be a sight never forgotten”, is a disgraceful commentary on those responsible for the hedonistic behaviour of so many of our (mainly) young people.

Risibly, A Diageo spokesman was quoted as stating Arthur’s Day “is all about responsible drinking”. So, as ‘responsible’ purveyors of alcohol, Diageo should foot the bill for the cost of cleaning up their mess. Surely we cannot stand by and see our hospitals akin to a battleground and the good people who staff them being verbally assaulted and, in some instances, physically so?

Why didn’t Diageo, with their meticulous planning and financial resources, provide a field hospital and staff to treat Arthur’s victims as in a war? If founder Arthur ever had a decent bone in his body, then he must be surely turning in his grave — where Arthur’s day should be consigned, ‘responsibly’ of course.

Noel Magnier

Mayfield

Cork