The Garda Public Order Unit is on alert today to respond to any potential disturbances at popular coastal areas in Dublin, The Irish Times reports. The move follows major disturbances in Howth yesterday afternoon.

There were violent scenes in the popular seaside town yesterday afternoon as crowds of teenagers reported to number 300 gathered along the pier. Many of the teens were drinking alcohol and large scale disturbances were reported to have taken place throughout the afternoon.

As a preventative measure gardai asked Iarnrod Eireann to stop DART stopping at Sutton DART station – the stop before Howth on the DART line – between 4pm and 6pm yesterday afternoon. Last summer a similar measure was taken as hundreds of teens arrived on Howth seafront and gardai found themselves trying to contain the crowd.

“It seems to be an end of school term thing and has also happened a few times later in the summer holidays in the past few years,” a senior garda to the Irish Times.

“The idea is that kids from all over Dublin would arrive on one spot, they go drinking and basically try and take over a place because there is so many of them.”

Local business owners praised the gardai’s reaction this year, with the lessons learned last year seemingly ensuring a more comprehensive response to the crowds.

Tommy Gaffney, local publican said gardaí “seemed to have the situation well under control” this year.

“We experienced this last year as well where social media takes hold and they announce that they’re heading to Howth for the day...and they come in big numbers,” Gaffney said.