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It’s a problem that we addressed last August, as certain kids decided
And again and again, the harbour master warned them that he would shut down access to that north pier if these dumb games of chicken
We’ll hopefully get to the bottom of exactly what happened on Tuesday. There are two sides to every story, of course, and therefore counter claims are coming thick and fast. After this article appeared in the morning, by the afternoon, we spoke with two of the kids present who claim that one of them was pushed into the water by the harbour master.
There was also a report that, having been banned from the pier for constantly diving in front of boats, these hardy boys broke through a fence yesterday to gain access. Add to that a harbour master who reportedly never has too far to
And just to add a further twist in the tale, there are photographs of the individuals involved, which resulted in the kids conducting a sit-in on
When we can get a straight story from those present, we’re happy to publish both sides of the story. If any of the kids  want to talk to us down at the harbour, we’re happy to give them the floor, and post their words, unedited.
And it should be pointed out that where the kid in the top picture is jumping at least makes some kind of sense – even if it is still illegal. It’s the gateway to the
You might as well jump…
It’s a problem that we addressed last August, as certain kids decided 
that the only way to enjoy the seaside was by putting themselves, and others, at risk.
Again and again, they dived into the path of boats entering and leaving the Greystones marina.
And again and again, the harbour master warned them that he would shut down access to that north pier if these dumb games of chicken 
continued.
Well, they continued. And continued.
And now, we’re told, the dumbness of these Greystones kids has extended to throwing life buoys into the water, boats being interfered with and aggressive behaviour that resulted in the gardaĂ having to be called.
So, thanks to these thrillseeking little tykes, from this morning, the north pier is now closed to the public.
There will be an emergency meeting next Tuesday to try and find a solution to this problem, but, a good place to start might be with the kids themselves. And their quite possibly-oblivious or possibly-dumbass parents.
Greystones has a great big expanse of water in which to play. Deliberately choosing an out-of-bounds, prohibited and dangerous spot to dive reveals not only a stupidity that runs about 100 fathoms deep but also a total disregard for other people’s lives.
Unbridled, unhindered fun at The Cove – Weds 21st June 2017 @joeellisphotography
go to reach the end of his tether, and you’ve got a showdown just waiting to happen.
Wednesday at the marina, demanding any such images be deleted. There’s also, allegedly, some drone footage of their earlier escapades.
That’s the beauty of being too lazy to edit videos. 
marina where the real trouble occurs – a problem akin to kids running out in front of oncoming cars. 
64 comments
Hey next you’ll be writing an article about dumb asses who don’t keep their dogs on leads. .as it’s illegal and dangerous they run in front of cars and knock children over
Good man, Mouse. Whatever you do, don’t use your real name when bravely shouting from the crowd. Now, back to your cheddar.
I see Paul has also taken to blocking people who disagree with him from commenting on GG’s Facebook posts. Mature, huh?
It’s a simple policy of blocking trolls. If the comments are consistently hateful rather than helpful, you’re out. Plain and simple. Really haven’t found any of your comments helpful, Basil, just hateful. Do something, get engaged, get involved, and then get back to us with something positive, something we can all work with. In the meantime, may your personal little god go with you…
I work down at the marina. I also sail and I have witnessed one child jump in front of our boat as we were heading out of the harbour. Most of the kids are good kids but there are a few that are wrecking it for everyone. They do jump into the harbour in front of boats, climb onto boats, use filthy language and litter the whole pier. They also threw litter into the sea. I hope those in authority can come to some solution. The big problem here is that not all kids are stupid but unfortunately if they sit right next to the really stupid ones then they get branded. My advice is to parents is to try to encourage their kids to keep off the pier until they reach a solution. In fairness to the harbour master he has tried to talk to the kids but they are giving him a very hard time. Lets stop taking chunks out of each other and hope that it will be resolved and we can get back to having a good time.
it feels like another peace of our kids lives taken away ,, every child in greystones jumped of the old harbour wall , giv them a little bit of space to do that , i understand the dangers highlighted , weather we beleive the harbour master or the kids , surely some medium can be reached ,
Paul’s credibility has been questionable for years and this article and its comments merely reflect the opinion of the majority of Greystones people. We have had enough of Paul’s one sided opinions and the manner in which he uses this website as a portal to air is views. This website neither reflects the opinions of Greystones residents or does it offer any tourist or visitor to Greystones an accurate guide to out lovely town. Its time Paul got a real job.!!
Thanks for your kind words, Lame Gallagher. Always good to hear from you, given that you are regarded very much a pillock of society. I hope you enjoy another summer working on your music, man. One day, one day…
Nice one Paul, very mature
I can’t say I’m impressed by Paul’s highly defensive tone, answering every comment to justify his tack with their piece, bad-mouthing our local kids and siding with the powers that be.
You should man up, Paul, admit your article is an outrageous slander on the local youth, and start looking into Mr Gallagher’s murky affairs and his aggressive attitude to anyone other than a customer — ask the fishermen, for example.
I guess the kids don’t advertise on Greystones Guide.
Stop being such a dick, Basil.
Thank you for making my point for me, Paul. Impartial journalism? Give me a break.
Paul before putting this up u should really of looked into it more as their is no details of the of the harbour master physically throwing two kids into the water one of which wasn’t a strong swimmer which led to a life ring being thrown in as the child was not able to get on the dock
Vote No. 1 Paul Byrne for harbourmaster
We never had these sort of problems or trouble in the ol harbour. Hav a photo of my dad at 12 years old jumping of old pier beside coal boat and no harbour master in sight, Couuncil have a lot to answer for, Tell Blaize to keep going
Paul I just saw your comment stating that kids broke through the fences!?!? The fence that crossed the entrance was put there to make way for construction hahaha. They cleared another path for the time been aswell. You really don’t know anything about the true story do you?
Another thing you said diving is prohibited, didving and jumping safely are completely different
Here here
Paul I just saw your comment stating that kids broke through the fences!?!? The fence that crossed the entrance was put there to make way for construction hahaha. They cleared another path for the time been aswell. You really don’t know anything about the true story do you?
Another thing you said diving is prohibited, didving and jumping safely are completely different.
Paul only one group of kids go to the edge of the north pier wall where the boats come in and out of. 90% of the other groups hang out alongside all the other ladders down way way further. Youre not actually taking both sides of this, I myself understand that the kids doing stupid shit where you can’t spot the boats quick enough when in the water is dumb but where others jump off it’s completely safe and is basically impossible to get hit with a boat unless they jump deliberately you in front. why publish and article about only one side without hearing the other sides story especially when you say there’s a meeting been called,should you not have published his article after gathering all the facts first?
We ran with the fact that the north pier was closed today, and we ran with the reasons why. We also stated that it was only a small group of kids that were the problem, and that it all centred on that one dangerous point of entry for the boats to the marina. We could hardly have waited until Tuesday night to write about the fact that the north pier was closed to the public the previous Wednesday. That’s not how news works. We’ll follow this up as we get more information, and other sides to the story…
How is this even aloud to be posted. When an article is posted categorising kids as dumb for having a bit of fun jumping off a pier like every other town in the country you know the journalist has hit an all time low. This doesn’t take both sides of the story and doesn’t state any facts and therefore it is biased and can be classed as fake news. The harbour master is also abusive and unstable as he robbed footballs from kids swimming yesterday and pushed one kid off the pier which he classes “dangerous” . Next time you get bored and decide to target kids just because a moody harbour master decides to contact you in order to point blame and avoid the activities he carriers out which should be classed worse than jumping off a safe pier, maybe write a decent article? This somes up Greystones Guide. Fake. Biased. A joke.
Good man, Timmy. We’ll be looking into what exactly happened, but, the simple facts are, diving is prohibited in the marina, and for over a year now, it has been a major problem. There are plenty of other spots around Greystones to go swimming in – the main attraction here is largely the fact that it’s not allowed. After a year of having the same group of kids break that law – the lads yesterday gained entrance by forcing their way through a fence, having been banned – it’s perhaps unsurprising that the man who’s responsible for everyone’s health and safety there might get more than a little exasperated. Talking to some of the kids today, it became apparent too that the kid supposedly having trouble swimming is well able to swim, and was just adding fuel to the fire…
But, Elvis bless you for writing in, and adding some valuable thought and consideration to this problem. You will remain in our prayers, always. x
How is jumping of the pier going to possibly kill other people apart from the one jumping of?
By landing on a boat coming in to the harbour. It’s a significant distance in height. Driving into the Marina, it is hard to see above the wall and there are some stupid kids who take a running start
I witnessed a near fatal jump for one young lad last year. I was standing on the marina with a number of other people and the teenagers were jumping off the north wall right where the boats come around the corner they were having great crack till a boat came around the corner and one of them jumped and only for it was an experienced fisherman driving the boat who jammed it in reverse that young lad would be almost a year dead. So maybe if this was caught on camera all the people would understand the danger in jumping off the pier
Load of bollox wouldn’t get this in bray
Yep, one day, we hope to be as prosperous and trouble-free as Bray. One day.
This goddam town provides ABSOLUTELY NOTHING for young people. There is no youth club. There is no disco. There is no nightclub. There’s a skatepark (dying fad) about five kilometres out of town. There is nowhere to0 go that doesn’t cost way more than teen has got. Neither the council nor elements of civil society have done anything for them.
So why is the Greystones Guide running headlines about ‘STUPID KIDS’? These are, basically, neglected kids, unprovided for kids, bored kids, frustrated kids. Get a fucking grip and get on their side, and not keep on backing up developers and people like the so-called ‘harbour master’, who should be providing some sort of security so that the North Pier can stay open.
For example, Merry Beau mentions the Wicklow harbour swimming raft. It’s not expensive. Maybe your friend Bernard, who owns several highly profitable marinas and a yacht brokerage, would dip his hand down into his very deep pockets and stump up for such a thing. Instead of having his goons shove kids into the water.
We hear you, Comrade Miller, and there are many people in the town working on providing facilities for young Greystonians in the town – including a youth centre secured in Charlesland and a second on Trafalgar Road that is currently raising funds. You can drop your donation into Coolnagreina at any time.
Given just how busy the harbour is now – thankfully – not sure a swimming raft would be wise. We hear The Cove is actually quite decent for swimming in. And possibly the South Beach too. A good three-to-four minutes walk, we realise, but, better than nothing. And death.
The small number of kids choosing to dive at this one small section of the pier – right where the boats come and go – makes them either blind or stupid. We took a gamble on the latter. If any of them are blind, we apologise, but, they really should hang out with better friends who can actually inform them when they’re putting their lives in danger unnecessarily…
Over.
Why are you so bent?
It’s just that I find you so witty, and insightful, and damned attractive. Even though you’re too chicken to use your real name, or your real email, you still strike me as someone who’s in control of their life, of their destiny, of their lions. How could I not be bent with such a man emailing me all the time…?
You’ve made my point for me, thanks. The only youth facilities you can mention DO NOT YET EXIST.
Here’s something for you to chew on. Two years ago, the guy who used to run the Surge disco tried to reintroduce it to Greystones. But nobody — no sports club, no church hall — NOBODY would give his disco any space. He had everything in place, including a security and admissions plan and staff to implement it, he felt he had covered all bases. And what did they tell him? The old ‘our insurance won’t cover it’ excuse.
When I was growing up, me and my mates had the pick of weekly discos and live gigs/hops all over south Dublin, run by churches, tennis clubs, the St Johns Ambulance Brigade, Uncle Tom Cobley and all. It really makes me angry that these kind of organisations will no longer do the least thing for the young populations of our towns and suburbs.
Nothing to do for young people in Greystones? Get a grip. There’s any number of sports clubs, 5 a side pitches at Charlesland Sports Park, North Beach, South Beach, the cove, etc. We have it a lot better in this area than most. I get it, that they’re only trying to have fun and on a hot day it’s a very attractive option to go jumping off a pier, especially with the demise of the Mens, but if they want cool off, there’s plenty of other places to go for a dip.
You realise the the south pier jump is used also. And besides it’s worse than the marina because the boatyard is right beside it you fool. By the way the ‘harbour master’ physically threw a kid off the marina into the water so I don’t really think you can say much more, you probably never even heard that part.
Will look into that, Billy. Have to go with the information at hand, and, naturally, we’re as curious as everyone else as to any twists and turns, or hidden agendas, might be at play here. But, I can see from your reply that you are a witty and informed individual, you fool, so, thanks for your input. Keep up the good work!
He/she doesn’t even make shitty articles for a living and he/she knows more about this situation than you.
Perhaps raft like the one down in Wicklow town would provide an alternative and safer attraction for the kids; not at the harbour but somewhere safer along south beach. Life guards or water safety expects could advise on a safer location.
Could you clarify exactly where on the south pier you are sugesting they jump from ? Because that would seem to put them right in the harbour mouth , in the way of more sea traffic and stronger currents ?
Leaping from the circle, back into the harbour water, towards the sailing club, would be a lot less dangerous. Still not legal, of course, but far less likely to leave a boat with a leaky kid-shaped hole in the bottom…
Nice use of the words stupid and dumb while referring to kids
Yeah, we realise no kid in the world has ever been either stupid or dumb. We just thought we’d be a little crazy and suggest that putting other people’s lives – and your own – might suggest not only one but two of those attributes.
Oh really if its that dangerous maybe you should ask the harbour master as you refer to him why he pushed a kid into the marina the other day and also chose to get into a physical confrontation with some 14 year olds. To be honest this stinks of a slow news week the fact is no kids are jumping in front of boats if a particular area is dangerous then close off that area the kids are just having a bit of fun a few kids jumping off a marina happens all around the country. Our community has suffered enough over this harbour and who gives this guy the right to close the north pier and then call a meeting to have it reopened some people need to get a life
Yep, that’s what it is, definitely. A slow news week, and we got in touch with the gardaĂ, rescue services and the harbour master to concoct a story about trouble down at the marina, and have the north pier closed, just so we would have something to post on a Wednesday afternoon.
You got us, Inspector Clouseau. The whole thing is made-up. Completely. Nothing to see here.
Now, off you go and sort out Brexit, the Middle East, and why Michael McIntyre keeps selling out stadiums.
See you just admired it’s a load of bullshit didn’t you x
paul, take the post down ur getting roasted here mate x
Just healthy, thought-provoking banter. A battle of wits, even if some my opponents appear to be unarmed. Nothing in the post that isn’t, deep down, simply true…
Paul’s on a mad one x
There’s no harbour master in Greystones ! Bernard leases the marina area from the council , That does not make him a harbour master .
Bernard is responsible for the marina, and all who sail in her. And jump in her too. That’s pretty much a harbour master, at the end of the day. Marina Guardian nor Harbour Landlord doesn’t sound quite right.
harbour taken of the fishermen ? now been taken off the kids . its not right , i hope we hear the kids side of the story
Rain is the solution 🙂 dopes if they are putting themselves in danger.
A biggest load of bullshit article i ever read kids having fun jumping of the pier like we all have done if it bothers you go on to the other beach and winge about the dog
So kid or anyone jumps in front of a boat or into a boat from a pier thats just you and your bloody hysterical writing
Clearly, you should read more, Troy. Do you think those working down at the harbour are making all this up? And closing the north pier for the craic? There’s a small minority causing problems down at the harbour, and it has to be addressed. Now, off to the library with you.
A Bit rude???
This is ridiculous. The fact that you are grouping all the kids into the one group that are aggressive shows you did no actual research into the situation. You shouldn’t speak so knowingly if something you know little of, you just look like an idiot.
Calling the parents dumbasses is purely rude and only shows what a rude and dumb man you are.
Your making this out to be a lot worse than what it is. Most of the kids won’t jump if there’s a boat there and the harbour master saying “it’s a blind jump” in his interview last year didn’t take into account the fact that you can look over the edge to check if there are boats coming.
Stop writing these posts, stop insulting people and stop being sarcastic in your articles it’s “the lowest form of wit” as I’m sure you know.
Good man yourself, eh, John Doe. We have pointed out that it’s a small number of kids deliberately jumping into the path of oncoming boats. It’s a huge pier – why anyone would need to jump right at the gateway of the marina is the issue here. That and the vandalism – throwing life buoys into the water, damaging boats, fighting with harbour staff to the point that the gardaĂ have to be called. is there something about those simple facts that we’re missing here…? Of course most of the kids hanging out down at the harbour are fine – it’s just the small minority of thrillseekers deliberately locking horns with those trying to run the harbour that are the issue. And it is that small minority that has caused the north pier to be closed today.
Paul,
You may want to re-read your article. At no point do you refer to a minor of kids. Rather the whole article does actually group ALL of the kids in with the edit minority.
“North Pier Closed Due To Stupid Kids Outbreak”,
“It’s a problem that we addressed last August, as kids decided ..”
“In recent weeks, the dumbness of these Greystones kids ..”
“a good place to start might be with the kids themselves ..”
You get the picture. If the article was written about how a SMALL NUMBER number of kids have ruined the north pier for everyone then you could stand by your defence of the article. But the responses to the grouping the kids under a single label correctly take issue with the article.
I reckon where we point out that the problem isn’t where the kid in the picture is jumping, but at the gateway of the marina, where the boats enter and leave, would suggest it’s not all the kids all the time. It would take a different kind of leap to assume that we were talking about every single kid who heads down to the harbour here – clearly, we are talking about those kids who are jumping at the one spot in the entire harbour that they have been refused permission to do so, both through public signs and through verbal warnings. That’s a problem. As is the throwing of life buoys into the sea. And damaging boats. And assaulting harbour staff.
There will be an emergency meeting on Tuesday night to see if this problem can be resolved, and if we can get an exact number of kids causing the problem for you, we’ll be in touch asap. In the meantime, may your Elvis go with you.
We already know there’s human remains in the water. Only one group of kids did the stupid things. My group are a bit older and we have fun by jumping in when there is no boats coming in or out, and we especially don’t interfere with the buoys and other stuff the north pier has along it. This article is full of lies and exaggerating making it seem as if were deliberately all jumping in front of the boats. the only fun place to jump in and out with ease was the marina as it had ladders to assist you. I think you should give us a second chance and maybe kick out only certain kids by using cameras and photo recgoniton.
What a load Bollox stop being dry shites x
This is just utter bollox no one plays chicken with the boats all people do is jump the marina on sunny days as is done all over the country it’s just a bit of fun and no one is at risk of hitting boats because they don’t jump when a boat is coming. As for the agressive behavior that’s a small minority of people who are just scum. Saying we’re all stupid and unpleasant is just insulting and just discredits your article.
There could be a solution!! Tell them they are swimming in the poo of all those boats tied up in the marina….which they actually are…that might knock some sense into them.
Boats can’t poo