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A group has been advertising tickets to “house party” events in South Dublin via a private social media account in recent weeks, in violation of current Covid-19 blocking restrictions.
The group operates through a private Instagram account and has announced tickets to various parties since the beginning of the year, at a time when the country is in the midst of a huge spike in Covid-19.
The group is announcing a house party it claims will take place Thursday night near the city center, at an undisclosed location on Dublin 2.
A selection of the Instagram Stories publicity parties in Dublin
People can only message the account or view the group’s posts after requesting to follow the account and being accepted. Those looking to buy tickets to the house party were asked to message the account for location details.
The group posts advertisements for the illegal parties using Instagram’s ‘story’ feature, where the posts disappear after 24 hours.
Last Saturday, the social media account announced € 5 tickets for a house party in Portobello, south of Dublin, which it claimed would take place that night. The Irish Times could not establish whether the announced party took place last Saturday.
Two weeks ago, the group announced tickets to a party at Dublin 4 for € 10, claiming that a DJ would play music at the event. A short video posted by the group, purporting to be of the event, showed a small number of people gathered in a large room or hall, with a DJ playing music.
In posts on the private Instagram account, seen by The Irish Times, the group claims that the advertised parties are “Covid-19 friendly.”
Following inquiries as to whether Gardaí knew about the Instagram group, a Garda spokesperson said: “An Garda Síochána does not comment on third party materials.”
Under temporary Covid-19 laws, it is a crime to organize an event that violates public health restrictions on gatherings, with fines ranging from € 500 to € 2,500, or six months in prison on conviction.
Separately, the Garda continues an investigation into a large illegal rave organized by a different group that took place in December in Co Laois, near Stradbally.
More than 80 people are believed to have attended the rave, with videos from the event showing people dancing together without masks and without social distancing.
The group had announced tickets for the event through a private Instagram account. There was extensive damage done to the rental home where the event took place, which the owner had passed on to Airbnb without being aware of the planned rave.
An Garda Síochána is investigating the organizers of the illegal rave for criminal damage to property and violations of the Health Law of 1947.
This week, a Garda spokeswoman declined to comment on whether arrests had been made in the case, saying only that investigations were “ongoing”.
Following media coverage, the group deleted their Instagram account used to organize the raves.
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