Giant Minion escapes to cause road incident in Dublin

A Dublin city councillor has referred an escaped Minion to the planning authorities.

The giant inflatable character, more than 10 metres high, came loose from its moorings on the Swords Road and fell into oncoming traffic clipping the wings of a car.

The accident happened on Monday afternoon during a particularly windy spell.

The Minion, one of the popular characters from the Despicable Me film franchise, was advertising a temporary fairground on the Swords Road.

Cllr Paul McAuliffe said the incident may seem humorous at first glance, but it could have caused a serious accident on what is a busy road.

“I don’t want to sound like a killjoy, but if that had landed on a cyclist, for instance, it could have been serious,” he said.

“If you take the Minion part of it out, if this was a large inflatable weather balloon that had not been properly tethered, there would be no humour in this story at all.”

Cllr McAuliffe has referred the incident to the City Council’s planning enforcement department to investigate if the inflatable cartoon character was the subject of any planning regulation and to question operators if appropriate health and safety measures were in place.

“It seems like one of those innocent ‘silly season’ stories but I am very concerned that such a large object was allowed escape onto a busy main road. There could have been far more serious consequences,” he said.

“Fairground events and festivals are really important in bringing foot fall to our city villages but even the smallest events have health and safety conditions.

“I have asked the Council to provide me with a report on the incident and for the operators of the fairground to be interviewed by council officials.”