Council 'implementing solution' after Dublin locals flashed New Yorkers and showed 9/11 pictures on Portal

Dublin City Council say it is ‘implementing some technical solutions’ to the viral Portal connecting the Irish city to New York City.

Launching on 8 May, there’s been a visual live stream sculpture up in each of the US and Irish cities, allowing locals to connect in real-time.

However, while the ‘Portals’ are supposed to act as a ‘bridge to a united planet’, they haven’t exactly been creating totally wholesome moments.

Sure, there’s some sweet videos of friends waving to each-other from either side of the world and dance groups performing together.

But there’s also clips of Dublin locals showing up pictures of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, much to the horror of those on the New York side.

There are even reports that the New Yorkers have been getting flashed through the portal with others simply showing it the middle finger.

And as one user joked on X: “Who thought a portal would be a good idea?”

So, after some absolute nightmare situations being streamed through the portal, the council told LADbible it is implementing some technical solutions over the next 24 hours to address it.

With the ‘inappropriate behaviour’ being ‘amplified through social media’, the council is going to carry on monitoring the situation over the coming days in the hope of delivering a ‘positive experience for both cities and the world’.

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A Dublin City Council spokesperson told LADbible in a statement: “The Portals artwork facilitates a wide range of human interactions and engagements. Within days of the launch, the Dublin and NYC Portals have received hundreds of millions of positive impressions on social media and widespread global coverage in the press including CNN, BBC, USA Today. We have also seen a significant increase in footfall to the Portal since its launch around North Earl Street and O’Connell Street.

“The overwhelming majority of interactions are positive. We have seen families and friends unite, dancing moves being shared as well as new friendships being made. There was even a successful marriage proposal. The Portal offers a window to other cities and is connecting people and cultures in a unique manner - what we are seeing between Dublin and NY is reflective of a wider narrative of cultural behaviour.

“Unfortunately, we have also been witnessing a very small minority of people engaged in inappropriate behaviour, which has been amplified through social media. While we cannot control all of these actions, we are implementing some technical solutions to address this and these will go live in the next 24 hours. We will continue to monitor the situation over the coming days with our partners in New York to ensure that Portals continue to deliver a positive experience for both cities and the world.

“The Portal sculptures have been very well received in both New York City and Dublin. The team at portals.org and partners are still working on improving the software for better stability and to prepare for Portals to expand to more locations on Earth. Those works are being done mostly at night and during those hours, the livestream might be paused. This will deliver a better experience for all participants and some surprises to keep the artwork engaging.

“The Portal is for the public to use and we encourage people to enjoy it, interact with it and to continue to meet and say hello to people outside of their social circles and cultures.

The Portals Organization also said: “As Portals Organization, we do not intend to suggest people to interact with Portals in any particular way - our goal is to open a window between faraway places and cultures that allows people to interact freely with one another. We encourage people to be respectful and from our position as observers, we see that the absolute majority of experiences is on the bright side.”

LADbible contacted New York’s Flatiron NoMad Partnership for comment.