I am sure Proinsias De Rossa spoke for many of us who attended the Skyfest fireworks display in Dublin last weekend when he commented that transport and stewarding arrangements for the event were so inadequate that the city was lucky to avoid a serious disaster. Indeed, many of us at the event endured dangerous situations which lead us to believe, in Mr De Rossa's words, that a "Hillsborough-style disaster was imminent".
You could apply any of the usual euphoric adjectives - fantastic, incredible, brilliant - to describe the Skyfest fireworks show. But you could certainly apply any of the following - dire, incompetent, dangerous - to describe how the authorities handled and managed the huge crowds which made their way through the city centre to see the spectacle that Saturday night.
My girlfriend and I wandered into town to watch the show at around 7.30 p.m. Beyond the Four Courts, pedestrians and traffic shared the north quays all the way down to O'Connell Bridge. People walked along the street oblivious to cars travelling slowly behind them. Yet no-one dared close the area to traffic, despite the obvious dangers.
O'Connell Bridge
Further down the quays, the Ha'penny Bridge was so packed with people that we decided it was unwise to try to see the show from its elevated position. So we continued down to O'Connell Bridge where we found a few unoccupied square inches and installed ourselves to watch the show.
Before it began, however, an ambulance with its siren blaring tried to traverse the bridge. Given that the bridge was packed solid with people this seemed a curious choice of crossing-point across the Liffey. Nevertheless, the ambulance persisted, blared its siren implacably at the crowd and crawled along at a snail's pace. In all, it took the vehicle the best part of seven minutes to cross O'Connell Bridge - a distance of no more than 40 metres.
Once the ambulance was out of the way, we noticed that two double-decker buses had also got caught in the crowds on the bridge. However, unlike the ambulance, these weren't making any noises or efforts to move. Effectively, the buses were blocking about half the view of the Custom House and their lucky occupants on the top deck must have had a marvellous view of the show.
However, for the rest of us standing on O'Connell Bridge, we only got to see the fireworks that went highest into the air. To our eyes there seemed to be a lot of action lower down that was virtually invisible due to the buses on the bridge.
What we could see was most impressive. The colours, explosions and variety of fireworks were truly fantastic, incredible and brilliant. However, when the show ended and people attempted to disperse, we found ourselves in a very frightening and dangerous situation.
Dangerous squeeze
First a squash emerged among those on the bridge. Then a scrum. And finally it developed into a dangerously tight squeeze. The problem was that huge numbers of people were converging on O'Connell Bridge from both sides desperate to get from one half of the city to the other. As a result, the massive number of people already on the bridge couldn't get off and nobody could get through.
People pushed and elbowed their way along. Parents held their children tightly and started to look very worried. Just then, another ambulance arrived and, yet again, set itself implacably to the task of crossing the bridge with its siren wailing. Needless to say, it fared even worse than the previous one.
In their rush to get out of the ambulance's way, people moved aside and inadvertently caused crushes elsewhere on the bridge. This situation was worsened by a few abandoned cars. At this stage, the crush of people was so tight that I could no longer feel the cool night air. The heat of bodies packed together was making me sweaty and dizzy.
Just then I felt something grab my leg below the knee. I tried to look down to see what it was but couldn't as I found it virtually impossible to move with people packed tightly all around me. A gap appeared in the swaying crowd and I saw a young boy - probably no more than three - holding his sister with one hand and palming off people's legs with the other.
Wheelchair
I then came across a young American boy in a wheelchair whose sister was imploring people to take it easy and watch out for her brother's chair. This caused me to seriously worry that somebody would get hurt and I looked around desperately for a garda to alert to the situation.
After some 20 minutes of being squashed and squeezed on O'Connell Bridge and without a garda in sight, we managed to get onto Aston Quay. It's worth repeating that this is a distance of no more than 40 metres.
It took us a while to settle down after our frightening experience on O'Connell Bridge. We walked slowly back up the quays - utterly deflated after the great fireworks show - with people and cars sharing the roads in the same dangerous fashion. This gave us plenty of time to wonder how those who invite people to a party should take care of their guests. And, if they can't do it properly, should you turn up?