I’ll be back in the nude when the sun shines but this time it’ll be on a beach
Man who was f ined €200 for sunbathing naked labels Irish laws ‘archaic’
A MAN convicted of baring all on one of the hottest days of the year has insisted he is not going to give up his favourite pastime – despite being slapped with a court fine.
Glen Wrather, who was fined €200 over a charge of exposing himself in a public place, says the laws surrounding nudity are ‘archaic’ and plans to go in search of one of Ireland’s few nudist beaches in time for the next spell of good weather.
‘I have done it thousands of times in England, and nobody bats an eyelid,’ the Leeds man, who has lived in Ireland for seven years, told the Irish Mail on Sunday. ‘I’ve also done it here too without a problem.’
As a nudist-friendly beach in Dalkey, south Co. Dublin, prompted complaints that it had been ‘hijacked’, Mr Wrather, 57, said: ‘If I can find the nudist beach in Dublin, I’ll be going this weekend since the weather is supposed to be good. I’d have been there every weekend but nobody told me about it.’
Mr Wrather’s love of nude sunbathing got him into hot water last month. On July 6, he decided to strip off in the communal gardens of his apartment block at Ballymahon, Co. Longford.
He was lying on his front when a neighbour arrived to hang out her washing. He claims that he asked her if it was OK, and she agreed it was. ‘There was no one around, it was at the back of the apartments,’ Mr Wrather explained. ‘She was fine with it. I didn’t even know who it was who had called the police.’
However, Longford District Court heard that when the female neighbour’s husband arrived home, Mr Wrather was lying on his back.
‘Next thing, there were coppers banging on my door,’ said Mr Wrather. ‘They took me to the station and started grilling me. I told them I was sunbathing, that’s it.’
The court heard that Mr Wrather, a part-time farm worker, had no previous convictions, and he was fined €200. Mr Wrather argues that the law he was charged under is out of date in 21st-century Ireland. ‘The police were laughing in the court,’ he recalled. ‘Even the judge started laughing.’ He added: ‘We were all born in the skin, as we call it.’
Judge Séamus Hughes noted there had been growing discussion in the media over calls in certain quarters for more nudist beaches. ‘I’m not personally surprised,’ said Judge Hughes. ‘It’s not Victorian Ireland.’ The judge advised Mr Wrather not to partake in similar behaviour in public places again.
Mr Wrather argues that laws are more relaxed in other parts of Europe, where attitudes are less prudish. ‘You can do nude cycle rides in London and nobody cares. So why are the laws so archaic here? If there’s no one there, why can’t you do as you please? I was at the back of the houses.’
‘The police in court were laughing’