LAST UPDATE | 5 hrs ago

THREE PEOPLE WERE brought to Beaumont Hospital with non-life threatening injuries after a car was driven at a number of people on Harbour Road in Skerries on Saturday evening. 

Gardaí in Skerries responded to a number of reports of a public order incident shortly after 9.30pm last night. 

Gardaí said that a large number of teens had gathered on Harbour Road and that a fight broke out.  

During the course of the incident, a car was driven at a number of people and three people (two females and one male) were taken to Beaumont Hospital for treatment with non-life-threatening injuries.

In a statement, Fianna Fáil Senator Lorraine Clifford-Lee said that she was “deeply shocked and saddened by the horrific incident” that took place on Harbour Road in Skerries on Saturday. 

“There is absolutely no place for this kind of violence in our community,” she said.

“As a family friend of one of the young women who was innocently caught up in this incident and injured, my thoughts are with her, the others injured, and all of their families,” the statement continued.

“Thankfully, she is now home from hospital. I wish each of them a full and speedy recovery.”

Clifford-Lee said that there has been a significant increase in the number of young people visiting the area in Skerries during the summer months, and that “it is clear tensions have been building”.

“What happened on Saturday night was completely unacceptable,” she said.

“Skerries is a beautiful, safe community, and events like this leave people shaken. Skerries needs a greater Garda presence and stronger enforcement of the law to ensure the safety of our community.”

Clifford-Lee also stated that it is important that local businesses are not negatively impacted by this incident, stating that the people of Skerries should be able to enjoy their beautiful community without fear. 

She has urged anyone who witnessed what happened or who has any information that could assist the investigation to contact An Garda Síochána.

Speaking to The Journal, Fine Gael TD Grace Boland said that the incident in Skerries was “absolutely horrendous” and completely unexpected in the town. 

“Skerries is a really friendly town during the summer. People are out on the beaches and walking around, it’s very pleasant and it’s a lovely place to be,” she said. 

“It’s really unusual for something like this to happen, we just wouldn’t expect it at all. 
 We wouldn’t tend to have very many incidents, thankfully, so this is really unexpected.”

Skerries is a bit further out than Howth and Malahide, she said, and wouldn’t have as many visitors as the other two seaside towns.

However, there has been an increased number of visitors in recent years due to a campaign to bring more tourists to the area.

Boland says that the incident, where a car was driven into a group of people on the harbour “where it is busy, and the road is narrow” is “shocking”. 

“What happened was absolutely unacceptable,” Boland said. “I will be speaking to the Minister for Justice this week along with businesses to see if we can come up with a plan to ensure that something like this never happens again.”

Gardaí said that investigations are ongoing.