Nial Ring, the Lord Mayor of Dublin, has insisted that he was merely fulfilling his civic duty when he assisted in the apprehension of an alleged burglar in the city on Tuesday.
Mr Ring told The Irish Times he was being driven back to the Mansion House when he saw “a guy chasing a young fella and shouting stop”.
“I told my driver to drive further down to the other end of the street, and I got out of the car to head him off at the other side,” he said.
“Eventually three of us surrounded him, and we didn’t have time to do anything, and then the gardaí arrived 10 or 15 seconds later, so modestly I got back into my car, said nothing and got back on with my important work for the people of Dublin,” he said.
Mr Ring said that he would be inviting the other two people who assisted him in apprehending the suspected burglar for tea in the Mansion House.
Asked if it was wise for people to intervene in incidents such as this, he said “We’ve all seen crimes happening and intervened if you could.”
“Your instinct takes over, and I said I have my civic duty to do. Luckily I’m fit enough and big enough to stop someone like that,” he said, adding that his fitness regime includes doing Park Runs around Dublin on Saturdays. He said he has done 46 of them and wants to do 50 during his term of office.
Gardaí in Kevin Street are investigating a burglary which occurred shortly before midday at Cannon Court, Bride Street. A male in his twenties entered a premises. The suspect was subsequently detained and arrested by gardaí on mobile patrol.
