A Dublin pub says its property was left in a "disgraceful state" after large crowds were filmed drinking on South William Street last night.
Grogans Castle Lounge, which has been closed for the past eight months, says it is "furious" after rubbish was left around its premises.
Gardaí say they responded to reports of a large gathering of people on South William Street yesterday evening.
They asked the crowd to disperse and a number of patrols were conducted in the area over the course of the evening.
A spokesperson said no breaches of COVID-19 regulations were detected.
Daniel Smith, a barman at Grogans, believes pubs being open would be a safer environment for customers.
He said: "The street in general luckily had been cleaned by the Council by the time we got in.
"It was just behind the barriers which we had for our outdoor seating area, we filled two bags of rubbish and there were signs of urination on the side of the pub."
8 months closed yesterday. Deemed unsafe to operate by NPHET and Gov.
Is this safer?
Clearly nearby properties don't have to follow the rules. Our premises is in a disgraceful state this morning with tons of rubbish and people using it as a toilet.
We are furious this morning. https://t.co/qLti0gPTKQ
— Grogans Castle Lounge (@GrogansPub) November 15, 2020
Mr Smith said they were "frustrated" that people were gathering to drink on the street while their pub has been closed for months.
He added: "We've been saying for months now that we feel pubs and restaurants should be allowed to open as they're controlled environments where you have staff there who have a duty of care for their customers.
"We feel they're a safe environment as opposed to these uncontrolled drinking sessions on the street.
"We've been advocating since early June for pubs and restaurants to be allowed to reopen regardless of whether they serve food or not.
"This is something we're advocating very strongly and hope will come to fruition when NPHET make a decision on November 26th."
