Dublin's Green Party councillors want 'night marshals' to monitor outdoor activities in popular city spots this summer - but some businesses operators in the city believe it simply won't work.
With indoor dining not expected to resume until at least early July, the coming weeks are set to be dominated by outdoor socialising.
It has led to some wondering how exactly to manage large groups and outdoor drinking in Ireland's towns and cities.
While gardaí can intervene as necessary, many don't want to see a heavy-handed approach taken towards those trying to socialise safely outdoors.
Green Party councillors in the city, therefore, want to see 'night marshals' hired for the summer months, who'd operate similar to the general staff in place during festivals or large outdoor events.
On Lunchtime Live, Janet Horner - Green Party Councillor for the Dublin North Inner City - explained what they're looking for.
She said: “The Green councillors for the Dublin City area have suggested we can bring in daytime ambassadors - welcoming people back to the city - and then night marshals providing a little bit of management to pro-social behaviour.
“If people are out gathering, [they’d] make sure the bins aren’t overflowing… asking and reminding people to take their waste with them if they can… notifying the guards if there are gatherings that are getting out of control.
“We’re asking the council to bring in staff to do this."
Councillor Horner said a lot of the behaviours the marshals would monitor are easily managed, and compared it to what happens at music festivals.
She said: "If you go to a festival in the summer, there’s not a heavy gardaí presence everywhere you go.
"Behaviour is managed by security staff and marshals, and people directing you to where you need to go.”
'A night marshal isn’t going to work'
On The Hard Shoulder, Martin Harte - CEO of Temple Bar Trading Company - said the councillors' intentions are good.
However, he argued this particular idea is one that simply will not work.
He observed: “A night marshal isn’t going to work. You have a situation where you have lots of people out on the street… there’s a whole range of problems that’s going to bring.
“A night marshal is essentially a security guard. A security guard on the street is pointless. They work in private spaces. In a public space, you need something called the police.
“The police are the only people with the powers of arrest… to tell people to move on. In many cases, if you were to use night marshals you could actually undermine the police.
“You could have some guy or girl telling a group of 200 or 300 people to take it down a decibel or ten on a particular street… then you could have a fight on your hands."
Mr Harte said properly trained gardaí are needed to respond, as well as deescalate any potentially tense situations.
Nonetheless, he believes a sensible approach is needed to avoid the city descending into "chaos" - as otherwise, he believes there could be "Electric Picnic on every street in Dublin for the next six to eight weeks".
He said: “You cannot have a free for all socialising outdoor in the city… something really bad will happen.
"If it’s controlled, seated and designated… then, of course, it can work.”
Mr Harte suggested pubs and restaurants shouldn’t be allowed trade on the street without having table and chairs - saying it may not be the fairest approach, but it could be the only way to sensibly manage crowds in city centre.
