DUBLIN FIRE BRIGADE responded to reports of a fire in Donnybrook’s Herbert Park on Sunday night, but locals are relieved that it was a disused shelter rather than the famous bandstand that was set alight.
The bandstand in the park was featured in the video for Phil Lynott’s 1982 hit Old Town, but there is another shelter in the park that was set alight on Sunday night.
It is understood that this particular shelter, that had been fenced off by Dublin City Council, was a hub of anti-social behaviour in the area for some time.
The shelter had actually been deemed dangerous by officials but groups of young people had taken to gathering around it at night time.
Dublin City Council was in the process of drafting plans to remove the shelter itself before Sunday’s fire.
It is understood that a wheelie bin was brought beyond the barrier, placed in the middle of the shelter and set alight.
Labour councillor Dermot Lacey told TheJournal.ie: “When I heard it was a bandstand set alight, I was really hoping it was the old disused one.
It would have been such a pity if it was the other one. In fact only on Monday I tabled a motion to put a memorial to Phil Lynott at that bandstand.
Of course, any vandalism is unacceptable. But people have been gathering there at night time for quite a while.
It is understood that the one that was set on fire had been “ready to fall anyway”, and that there was no real long-term future for it at the park.
With charred remains all that is now left, a clean-up is now under way.
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