The Dublin - NYC Portal is set to undergo changes less than a week after it opened amid some instances of what Dublin City Council has deemed "inappropriate behavior."
Dublin City Council (DCC) said in a statement to IrishCentral on Monday evening that it had been witnessing "a very small minority of people engaged in inappropriate behaviour [at The Portal], 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."
DCC added: "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 Portals Organization added: “We do not intend to suggest people to interact with Portals in any particular way - our goal is to open a window between far away 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”
The statement was issued after the Dublin side of The Portal was shut off briefly on Monday morning.
The Portal, an art sculpture that provides a live stream link between Dublin City and New York City, was unveiled to great fanfare on Wednesday, May 8.
While Dublin City Council insisted that most of the interactions and responses to the futuristic installation have been positive, there have been several unsavory instances that have gone viral on social media since the launch last week.
In one clip, a person on the Dublin side of the portal displayed an image of the 9/11 terrorist attacks at NYC's World Trade Center.
The New York / Ireland portal bouta start a war??? pic.twitter.com/0QTCmFVGvJ
— SolP (@SolProduced) May 11, 2024
Another post on social media showed what appeared to be an inebriated woman on the Dublin side of The Portal being led away by gardai on Wednesday, not long after the installation opened. According to The Limerick Leader, the woman was arrested and charged for public order offenses.
Another clip on TikTok shows a person in Dublin waving to the onlookers in New York before pulling his pants down and baring his backside.
However, Ian Begley, a reporter for the Irish Daily Mail, pointed out on X on Saturday that the 'inappropriate behavior' is not exclusive to the Dublin side of The Portal.
In its statement on Monday, Dublin City Council said that The Portal has "received hundreds of millions of positive impressions on social media and widespread global coverage in the press" and that the Dublin side of the installation has seen "a significant increase in footfall."
"The overwhelming majority of interactions are positive," DCC said. "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."
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