Councillor calls for anti-drinking signage on Drury Street as sunny weather brings back crowds
A Dublin city councillor has called for signage on Drury Street and Fade Street to be erected highlighting that the consumption of alcohol in public places is illegal under council bye-laws.
The area has seen increasing popularity over the last few weeks, as throngs of people return to the streetscape to socialise during the capital’s first few glimpses of the sun this year.
Speaking in a recent Dublin City Council (DCC) meeting, Independent councillor Mannix Flynn said he had been asked by local residents and business for signs discouraging drinking to be installed by the council.
"On the last weekend there, it was just chock-a-block with people drinking on the streets,” he said. “Deliveries couldn’t be made, people on bikes couldn’t get up the street, people with prams couldn’t get up the street.”
"Now, we all want to see a vibrant, good vibe, but as I said the issue now is that it’s out of control.”
Signage highlighting the illegality of drinking in public should be installed, he said, so businesses can “point to those signs when people are basically picnicking on the street".
"It’s a very simple request and we have them all over the place, so if we could put them up in Drury Street and Fade Street, that’d be much appreciated,” he said.
The comments come as Drury Street and Fade Street fill yet again with revellers and young people, in a similar vein to the events that played out last year.
The issue flared up last spring when businesses on the street complained about access for customers and deliveries due to the crowds of people gathering on their doorstep.
However, the debate also highlighted the perceived lack of city centre spaces for people to socialise, particularly without spending money.
Drury Street retailers, in particular, said that rows of people sitting on the kerbs were blocking customers from accessing the front doors of many longstanding shops.
Other businesses complained that the people gathering were not, by and large, spending money on the street, but were instead bringing food and alcohol from other places.
The issue came to a head in April of last year when signs were erected by a local business asking people not to sit on the kerb. They have since been removed.
Drury Street was pedestrianised in 2021, but unlike other Dublin thoroughfares that have gone car-free, no changes have been made to the street design since then.