Dublin Lord Mayor Hazel Chu has denied speculation that city centre streets could be closed in order to prevent large crowds gathering.

Over the weekend, people gathered in areas such as South William Street and St. Stephen's Green, leading to much criticism as well as calls for Dublin City Council to introduce additional bins and public toilets in the city centre. It was reported yesterday that Gardaí were considering closing certain streets temporarily in order to curb the gatherings but Lord Mayor Hazel Chu has now said that this is not the case. Taking to Twitter, she posted: 'I know there's lots of rumours going around on council planning on closing down South William Street and other streets after last weekend. Spoke to the management and it's very much just a rumour. There'll be no closure.' The area around Portobello Plaza has been fenced off over the past few weekends and An Tánaiste Leo Varadkar has said that he expects socialising to become "more organised" when outdoor drinking and dining opens on June 7.