Mayor of steel
A MAYOR joked he won’t be wearing his underpants outside his trousers like Superman after catching a suspected burglar.
Dublin’s first citizen Nial Ring was travelling in his car just off Peter Street in the capital shortly after midday yesterday when he noticed the suspect running down the street.
He managed to corner the youth with the help of two other men before gardai arrived seconds later to make an arrest.
Staff at the nearby Marsh’s Library tweeted details of the incident.
They said: “Wow! Our staff just spotted and chased an alleged burglar coming out of a neighbouring building.
“Running up Peter Street the guy was arrested by none other than the Lord Mayor of Dublin @nialring who happened to be in the area. Guards on the scene within 20 seconds.”
The mayor spotted the youth running down the street and asked his driver to pull over.
He told RTE’S Drivetime programme: “By the time he [the suspect] got down to where I was, he had sort of run out of steam.
“So myself and the other chap who had been chasing him and another guy who came from an apartment block, surrounded him and he gave up.
“Whether he realised I was the Lord Mayor and had super powers of arrest, I don’t know.”
Mr Ring said he was not wearing his chains of office at the time but he was ready to put them to use if gardai had not arrived so promptly.
He added: “They were in the car and if the guards hadn’t arrived within about 20 seconds, I was ready to chain him to the railings with them but there was no need to do that.”
Mr Ring said he would like to make contact with the two men who helped corner the suspect and invite them to the Mansion House to thank them for their actions.
He added: “It was brave because they didn’t know whether he had any weapons.”
The Mayor said he hopes others would step in if they saw similar incidents but he won’t be turning into a full-time superhero just yet.
Mr Ring added: “I’m not at the stage where I’m going to be wearing my underpants outside my trousers yet.”
Gardai said they are investigating the incident and said the suspect is being questioned.
If the guards had not arrived I was ready to chain him to the railings NIAL RING