South William Street footage sparks conversation over Covid restrictions in the city

Stefanie Preissner’s Twitter video inspired hundreds of comments about how the Level 3 restrictions are impacting Dublin life

A video posted on Twitter showing crowds gathered on Dublin’s South William Street has sparked a conversation about how seriously we should be taking the current Covid restrictions.

Screenwriter and author Stefanie Preissner posted the video on her Twitter page earlier today with the caption “The crowds on South William St today. Lads, we haven’t a HOPE”. The video shows small gatherings of outdoor diners in cafés and restaurants along the street, with a number of pedestrians passing by.

https://twitter.com/StefPreissner/status/1309865496158896133

While Preissner argued that the video was evidence of Dublin residents not taking the current advice to reduce social contacts seriously, many of her followers disagreed.

User Oisín O’Connor wrote: “These people are all outdoors, distanced and you have no idea if people close together are from the same household. They would be able to distance themselves even more if cars weren’t allowed to cruise down there.”

Another user Emma Feehan wrote: “All I see here are ppl sitting outside & helping businesses & our fabulous capitol city survive. We have been asked to reduce contacts not stay at home full time.”

Some accused Preissner of ‘scaremongering’ by posting the video, and of ‘shaming’ those out and about around the city.

Preissner replied to a number of comments to her video, maintaining the view that social distancing measures are being ignored around the city.

There are way more than 15 in some of those establishments and they are all on top of each other. See what u want to see but that is NOT what the government means when it says reduce your contacts and stay socially distant

— Stefanie Preissner (@StefPreissner) September 26, 2020

Dublin was recently moved to Level 3 on the Living with Covid plan put in place by government. Under current restrictions, bars, restaurants and cafés are closed except for outdoor dining with no more than 15 diners present.

Donegal became the second county in Ireland to be moved to Level 3 this week, after cases spiked in the county throughout September.

Restrictions will remain in place in Dublin for the next two weeks, and in Donegal for three weeks, when the government will review restrictions.

Read more: 5 of the best restaurant experiences for Dublin diners at home

Read more: 7 uplifting films worth watching this weekend

Read more: Donegal enters Level 3 restrictions after spike in Covid-19 cases