Una Mullally: Would all hell break loose if Irish people were allowed a few cans in the park?
https://www.irishtimes.com/opinion/2026/05/11/all-hell-wouldnt-break-loose-if-irish-people-were-allowed-a-few-cans-in-the-park/
Posted by Balfe
Una Mullally: Would all hell break loose if Irish people were allowed a few cans in the park?
https://www.irishtimes.com/opinion/2026/05/11/all-hell-wouldnt-break-loose-if-irish-people-were-allowed-a-few-cans-in-the-park/
Posted by Balfe
37 Comments
We virtually are allowed a few cans in the park though?
I swear some people who write these things don’t leave their house.
Its not illegal though is it? Had guards ask us to quieten when students but once youre behaved its fine?
allowed and enforced are 2 very different things
Laughs having grown up in Galway
I’d rather spend me money on a few cans than pay to read an article in the Times.
Depends whos having the cans
Like the laws around possession of personal quantities of cannabis, the status quo exists just to give the Gardaí an excuse to stop and pester, search, or detain a particular type of person that we can all imagine in our heads. The kind of person who walks around smelling of weed or drinking a can in public.
That’s the real barrier to removing them too. They’re practically useful for the guards.
Well look at Portmarnock beach on a sunny day! Fairly chaotic when the sun is out and you get every low life and scrote drinking on the beach
Yes, of course
Who doesn’t welcome lads in tracksuits with bags of cans to the neighbourhood? I think we can all agree that fun and japes will be had by all!!
Furthermore, would all hell break loose if Irish people were allowed to shoot up in the park?! I think not!
I guess i picked the wrong week to give up sniffing glue.
If there was a can recycling machine in said park it could be lucrative for all involved
We need to be less of a nanny state and allow people to enjoy individual freedoms. I would love to be able to smoke a joint legally here too.
Unfortunately we Irish have a habit of taking advantage of things, so I’d suggest that it would become an issue yes. Lot of decent people would treat it with respect, but have a look at the articles that pop up every year about the level of rubbish left on our beaches after sunny days.. we have a bad culture on that front sadly
I can tell you from experience that all hell will definitely break loose. It happens a lot.
You mustn’t confuse us with civilised people on the continent. It’s not the same here.
It’s the rubbish left behind I’m more worried about
Pretty sure this already happens.
I don’t think its the people who show up with 3 bottles who are the problem. Its the people showing up with 12 bottles and a wireless speaker
There’s be that one idiot/group of idiots that would ruin it for everyone.
Sorry was there not a whole thing that Leo ‘The Leak’ Varadkar was having cans in phoenix park and everyone thought it was illegal, only for them to come out and say it was perfectly legal and he wasn’t doing anything wrong?
What am I missing?
Ah lads drinking cans in the park is class! A can walk with your partner is top notch!! Especially on a warm summer night. Me and my now wife loved doing this in the summer when we first started dating. A backpack, a few stubbies out of the offo (small cans stay cooler and are less conspicuous) and go for a walk through a valley park beside us and go walking around random housing estates chatting and laughing away. We’d bring the dog too and he would have a blast, a 4 hour walk, he’d be delighted!! Ahhh those were the days.
I was at a house party that was a bit over capacity about 15 years ago. There was a small group of people drinking cans outside the front door and the gaurds came along and booked them for drinking in public. It’s a no fun society. What do you expect?
In some cases, having a few beers on the grass is good fun that doesn’t harm anyone. But in other cases, it is clearly anti-social and makes other people uncomfortable. The problem is there is no easy way to define the law to have a clear line between social and anti-social drinking.
Leaving it to the discretion of the Gardaí would lead to allegations of abuse and discrimination because there’s no easy way to define anti-social drinking so it just boils down to “they looked dodgy”
You must only spend money in the approved locations
Well it’s one way to ensure we don’t end up with a mountain of rubbish at nice spots the morning after a nice day.
If we could be trusted to clean up after ourselves I’d have no issue with it. But we clearly lack the sophistication as a society to do it, so we shouldn’t be allowed.
And I also don’t agree with a few bad eggs for ruining it for everyone, but when you see the amount of rubbish, it’s clear the majority simply don’t give a fuck.
It’s one of those things that should be totally fine in a decent and respectful society.
Sadly, I don’t really trust the public at large to behave that way if it was ever allowed. You’ll have a few cunts that ruin it for everyone else as always.
You’re allowed to drink in public anywhere where I’m living, place is left quite clean. Guys come around collecting empty tins to return them, so a small money stream for them.
I’ve been here 9 years now and I still love the novelty of it all, nice walking beer, sitting beside a canal in the summer, parks, or even just a random bench. Does be great altogether.
There was a video going round in Cork of a fight breaking out at the darkness into light walk last week sooooooooo yeah the risk of people becoming aggressive and antagonistic towards others can happen in almost every environment alcohol just increases the likelihood.
It can be fine with great weather people are in a good mood but in Ireland can’t ignore the fact people will see it as free reign to go wild rather than just having a few casual cans
Of course there are risks about public getting unruly with intoxication, and there’s the cleanup issue. But I can’t help but feel that the stakeholders who are really pushing to qwell this are pubs. It wouldn’t have such a huge issue which got so much attention in the past few years without this.
If there’s one thing that Irish society needs it’s more boozing.
It’s a case of that 90% would be fine, but the 10% would ruin it for everyone else.
I lived near phibsboro during Covid and enjoyed a few tins by the cross guns bridge, and the atmosphere was excellent – there wasn’t any anti social behavior in a disruptive capacity (asides from the drinking and smoking) – the Bernard shaw even incentivised people to pick up cans/bottles in exchange for money/a free drink token (s) which helped with the mess aspect
The issue started when people started with the big Bluetooth speakers and the excessive levels of drinking – full 24 pack crates of beer, generally being disruptive AND leaving their rubbish everywhere.
I am afraid the behavior of the few would destroy it for many
In “plenty other European cities” maybe people have a bit more civic responsibility and cop on?
Here outdoor areas are treated like a combined house party, dumping ground and toilet. “Leave no trace” and respect for others and the area are strange concepts here.
It’s never “a few”
I’m actually stunned that people’s minds can’t remember the pandemic when the guards were going around confiscating bags of booze off people and pouring out their cans onto the street. Real classy behavior. I’ve no idea how so many people think this isn’t an issue because “ara shure, if you’re sound you’re sound.” There were some horrendous videos going around in that whole opening up period of this very issue leading to actual straight up public order issues precisely because the cops were weighing in over this stuff.
I’m not young enough to be doing active Drury Duty as the zoomers call it, but it’s an issue down there too. My favorite summers were spent drinking cheeky cans on the Powers Court steps and nipping in and out of Grogans for the odd pint. It was magic. People come home blown away by what they see in the plazas of Spain and Italy, the absolute chaotic charm of places like Palermo with so many young people enjoying the evening – we are blessed with the “grand auld stretch” in the evenings here, just let people fucking enjoy it. Winters are too long.
The Phoenix Park yesterday was incredible to see so many people out as I whizzed by on a cycle. Much like Glasgow and places like Toronto, there should be dedicated sections for people to BBQ and have events with friends – including a few cans. Can we not just grow the fuck up here and start dealing with alcohol like a adults.
There was an Instagram video from a 2Johnnies concert recently, put out officially by the lads themselves – full of kids chanting shit like “pints pints pints” – and other inanities from their songs. That’s Ireland all over, there wasn’t a single comment pointing out how fucked it was to see 9 year olds swept up in booze based bragging – getting programmed for the life of a pisshead, yet on the other hand – we are all fucking puritanical and can’t tolerate simple continental approaches to booze. It’s so damn Catholic, unable to moderate and just pissing it all against a wall or sending in the priests and cops to clear the dancehalls.
Meanwhile nodnodwinkwink, “he’s not an alcoholic he’s just a character” to quote Farmer Micheal. We’re a desperately silly society. How can people learn to pace themselves in a culture where literally the state imposes a fucking race against the clock through its terrible licensing regime?
Mullally writes incessantly for the Irish Times on the bizarre topic of the vibe in Dublin. As far as she is concerned, culture consists of attending pop-up art exhibitions & drinking, standing on the pavement/street & drinking & now standing in a park & drinking. She is paid to write this rubbish. I like pavements, streets & parks. I also like drinking. I’m not keen on mixing them. OK at night, but not 5pm on a Friday, when I can’t walk up Wicklow Strret, because The Old Stand has zero control over its punters, who are blocking the pavement & street. Its a city, not a beer hall. A few people sipping a beer by the canal, or in a park, is a-ok. A crowd is not. The noise, the pissing, the rubbish. It’s not on. Plus, it scares my dog, who deserves a walk in the park. If I sound grumpy, its because I am, but also because the Mullally recipe would turn the city & now the parks into an open-air pub…….😠
As in all things in public life the issue is cost and responsibility.
Areas that people gather to drink cans require policing, sanitation, etc, all of which costs money. DCC don’t have more money unless people pay more taxes.
Visiting Amsterdam some years ago and we went to a park, There was a group of Homeless people sitting at a bench drinking away, Every so often one of them got up and took the empties to the bin and dished out another round. I asked was this the usual and was old if they didn’t do it they would be kicked out. I thought it was great.
I literally do not care if I’m allowed to do it or not. If I want to, I’ll do it.
Little bit of respect and taking my rubbish away with me is all the license necessary.