Garda fears after splitting Cork meeting of ‘racing boys’

Garda bosses are increasingly concerned about public breach of Covid-19 regulations after breaking up a “particularly large” gathering of so-called ‘kid runners’ in Cork on Saturday night.

The massive event, described by a senior official as “embarrassing,” drew more than 250 cars and involved up to 800 people with little regard for social distancing or wearing masks.

Garda headquarters issued a detailed statement about the event just one day after going public with the discovery of “wet” pubs that function normally, gourmet pubs that ignore food requirements and packaged shebeens.

“We are in a very delicate stage at the moment with Covid, and we are looking across the water, towards England, as to what is happening,” said a senior garda.

“People think that we are doing well and that it is Christmas and the vaccine is coming and everyone is doing the best they can, but not everyone is, as we can see in recent days. A significant proportion of people are not getting the message. ”

The source said the Gardaí were “caught off guard” by the scale of the boys’ race meeting on Little Island in Cork, located in the Eastgate shopping park.

Garda sources said they are used to car enthusiasts gathering in numbers of 20 to 40 cars in industrial parks.

“This meeting was particularly large, there were a lot of cars and people,” said a source. “Two hundred and fifty cars is a lot of cars, and two or three people in each. The size of this took us by surprise. “

Gardaí believes that the fact that it was the first weekend since restrictions were lifted, including on inter-county travel, contributed to the size of the gathering.

Local politicians said they were used to meetings at Eastgate Commercial Park, but the incident on Saturday night was on a completely different level.

“When I was there at 7:30 pm, when I was going to the local store, I was puzzled: there were dozens of people gathered and chatting,” said Fianna Fáil TD Pádraig O’Sullivan.

“I observed groups without masks and with very little social distancing. It was a cold night and all the cars were loud and speeding, so naturally they huddled together to chat.

“We have a problem there with male racers, but nothing on that scale, maybe we have 30-40 cars, but nothing like what the gardaí says, with 250 cars and 800 people, all during a pandemic.

“Obviously this was organized and there were trips between counties. There was traffic on the Cork-Midleton Expressway heading west, a queue of traffic. ”

He said Gardaí tried to make it difficult for those who were driving to the park.

“They did everything possible to reduce it. I saw gardaí stopping cars asking for licenses, checking engines, raising hoods, trying to make it difficult for those who tried to enter ”.

A detailed statement released by Garda HQ on Sunday said they responded to reports of a large “car rally” in Eastgate on Saturday night.

“Upon arriving at the scene, Gardaí observed more than 250 vehicles and between 700 and 800 people gathered,” the statement said.

“There was very little evidence of social distancing, use of face covers, or general adherence to public health guidelines. The ages of the participants included older men between 30 and 40 years old, some accompanied by young children, but mainly men and women in their 20s. ”

He said that the participants had traveled from outside the Cork metropolitan area and various parts of Munster.

He said the Garda chief inspector at the event described it as “an embarrassing gathering of people, despite health advice in recent days.”

The statement read: “Gardaí immediately engaged with this large group and advised them to disperse, a direction that was fulfilled by all present in a short period of time.

“There were no incidents of public order and enough Gardaí attended the scene to effectively disperse the meeting.”

Gardaí claimed that a man, in his 20s, was arrested, charged and released on bail to appear in court at a later date for drunkenness offenses, and a car was seized under article 41 of the Traffic Law vial.

The statement said that Gardaí was conducting a criminal investigation into organizing the event, reiterating that organizing any event attended by more than 15 people was a criminal regulation that attracted a possible prison sentence.

“While this event appears to have been organized on social media, An Garda Síochána has investigated and will continue to investigate any events held that violate Covid-19 regulations and the advice of the DPP will be sought in each case,” the statement said.

Sources said trying to identify the organizers through social media posts was difficult, particularly if much of this originated from closed WhatsApp groups rather than open Facebook posts.

O’Sullivan said there were some reports of an announcement on a Facebook page a few weeks ago about the event.

Local Fine Gael Councilor Anthony Barry said he knew of at least two similar incidents at another retail park in recent months, though not as big as the one in Eastgate.

He said he went through two of them, the most recent three or four weeks ago, and said they were “quite intimidating.”

In addition to worrying about the health implications of these meetings, he said Gardaí could be “putting himself at risk” by having to separate them.

Garda’s statement on Eastgate came just one day after they revealed they had identified a few dank pubs that continued to trade and gourmet pubs that failed to meet food service requirements, as well as a shebeen with 30 people.