Why is it that a little bit of sunshine turns so many people into yobs, urinating and littering as they go?

IT wasn’t just the filth that the outdoor drinkers left behind that was deeply offensive but the odour too. The smell of urine persisted on Saturday morning, amid all the debris of empty bottles, cans, plastic bags and fast food wrapping. And it wasn’t just detrimental to the senses, but potentially a public health hazard.

You may or may not have seen the pictures of the mess left by revellers on the banks of the Grand Canal in Dublin, in the Portobello area, last Friday evening and Saturday morning.

It started with the bit of sunshine on Thursday, as hundreds congregated in the area between two well-known landmark pubs, The Portobello and The Barge. By Friday evening the after-work numbers had increased to what could have been thousands as even better, warmer weather took hold.

Intimidating

What harm, you may ask. What’s wrong with people enjoying a few drinks in the open air, in the warmth and sun, like they do in continental Europe on a regular basis?

There were many problems, as it happens. One was sanitation. As the night progressed, people openly urinated into the canal and along its banks. (Imagine that some people might have sat down in the grass after that, without knowing that it wasn’t rain that caused the dampness). That, clearly, was illegal behaviour.

Open-air drinking is also illegal, although many people fail to appreciate that’s the case. It may also have been intimidating to those who were not drinking and who were trying to pass by. Even if there was no overt aggression, some would have been mindful of the potential for trouble.

The pubs along the canal can be absolved from any blame for the crowds that amassed outside of their premises. It seemed that the majority of the people along the banks of the canal and on the footpaths and roads had brought their own cheaper drink from off-licences and supermarkets in the vicinity. And as many of the people weren’t going into pubs to buy drink, they weren’t going into the pubs to use the toilets either.

Nor did most of the revellers pick up their debris once they had finished drinking. The photographs of the Portobello/ canal area after the crowds had dispersed in the early hours of Saturday morning looked as if the contents of a rubbish dump had been picked up and dropped there. Successful efforts were made by Dublin City Council to clean up the streets the following day, but who knows what sort of rubbish was in the water?

People pushing children in buggies along the canal, or on family walks, were confronted with this sight and smell on Saturday before the clean-up began, because of the selfishness of those who simply couldn’t be bothered to pick up their own rubbish and bring it home. (Don’t get me started on those who excuse themselves by saying the council didn’t provide enough bins in the area – as if they would have used them). People using the cycle lanes along the canal had reason to worry about glass puncturing their bicycle’s tires and tubes.

It has been suggested that the gardaí should have moved in to break up the crowds who were drinking and that litter wardens should have required people to pick up their mess or face fines.

Scuffles

The chances of being able to enforce the law effectively must have been small. The risk was that confronting anyone, even if it was the right thing to do, might have sparked scuffles and worse. Few could blame the gardaí for merely maintaining a watching brief, to step in if things got out of control, if assaults, sexual or otherwise, took place.

But why does it have to be like that? On Sunday I was fortunate enough (other than for the result of the Munster Champions Cup semi-final which I also attended) to spend the day in Bordeaux.

It was a beautiful sunny day, with temperatures of around 28-29 degrees Celsius. We sat outside for our lunch, walked part of the way to the ground before jumping on their version of the Luas, and after the game walked back to the centre of town where again we sat out to eat our dinner (and I should add that the excel- lent food was cheaper than it would have been back in Dublin, but that’s another story for another day) before flying home. There were thousands upon thousands of Munster fans who did the same and those who wanted a few pints in the outdoors did so too. There wasn’t a hint of trouble and, just as importantly, there wasn’t the sight of a single piece of litter.

Everything was kept clean and tidy because the Munster fans respected the hospitality they were receiving and the local custom of cleanliness.

Excess

I’m not trying to suggest that rugby fans are different to other Irish people, by the way. I’ve been away with Irish soccer fans over the years and while they like taking opportunities to drink in the open air, weather permitting, they are friendly and they are respectful enough of the locals not to leave a mess. As a general rule we behave better when we go away.

I should also admit that I’ve been at various sporting events over the years in Ireland where we’ve gone for a few pints after the game and have found ourselves standing outside the pub of our choice. Only last year I spent a couple of hours after the All-Ireland final standing outside Mulligans on Poolbeg Street.

The gardaí tolerated the drinking of pints on footpaths but every now and again moved people off the road for their own safety as buses and other traffic tried to pass. Strictly speaking, they should have been telling us all to move inside or have confiscated our drink, but good sense prevailed because everyone was in it together. People returned their empty pint glasses to the pub and went to the toilet inside. As it should be.

We seem to have a cultural problem that needs to be addressed. Good weather is merely an excuse for many to binge on alcohol. Admittedly, we don’t often get the weather like they do in Bordeaux or the other parts of continental Europe that we like to visit on our holidays or for weekends away. As a result, we have limited facilities for outdoor dining like they do there. Instead of looking to eat with a moderate amount of alcohol, we look to drink to excess.

What can be done about this in the absence of adequate policing? Why is it that all of the education we give to our children in schools seems forgotten as soon as they become adults? Well, maybe the answer lies in history. The pub was created as a venue to regulate excessive drinking and drunkenness, to stop people drinking at home or at open street corners. Cheaper drink from supermarkets and off-licences is taking people out of the relative safety of the pub which, with suitable garden facilities, should be the only outdoor place, other than a garden or balcony in your home, where you should be permitted to drink.