Danielle Robinson has defended Dublin Ink, after the tattoo parlour came under fire for using a sprinkler system outside their premises.
The manager of Dublin Ink, who once starred in RTÉ’s Fade Street, took to the airwaves on Spin 103.8’s SpinTalk to explain their reasoning for using sprinklers – insisting that it is used to deter anti-social behaviour, not homeless people in general.
After the popular tattoo studio, which is based in Temple Bar, started receiving backlash, they took to Facebook to explain why they installed the system – by releasing some extremely graphic images including blood stains, syringes, used condoms and human faeces that have been left on their door step in the past.
When asked what she expects homeless people to do, Danielle said, “I don’t have a solution. It’s not my responsibility to have a solution. But when theres needles and syringes and blood outside our premises that we pay an extortionate amount of money and tax for, and its really really affecting the clients coming into the studio.
“There’s mornings where we cant even walk in – we’ve called police, we’ve called the guys from Merchants Quay we’ve called the Temple Bar Cultural Trust, we’ve been on to everybody. And don’t get me wrong, I really really don’t like the label of anti-homeless sprinklers, I think thats going to conjure inhumane images of us.
“We have plenty of homeless people that sleep outside, we’ve got two brothers that are here on a regular basis, they clean up after themselves, they’re really polite in the mornings and they get up and move on, but unfortunately not everybody is like that. We just can’t justify the blood and the needles and the crap, you know,” she explained.
Danielle also explained how the sprinkler system wasn’t their first option, and that they were previously denied placing a barrier in front of their premises.
“This wasn’t our first option, that’s what we’re trying to tell people. We’ve applied for a barrier, we’re not actually allowed put a barrier outside onto Cow’s Lane. We’ve done all of that and we can show you all of the applications for all of this stuff, we have it there. This was not our first option. We’re really desperate right now.
“People have the assumption that these sprinklers are freezing cold water splashing down on unsuspecting people sleeping on our porch. That’s also not the case, we’re not monsters in here. They act as a deterrent, people don’t even have the opportunity to come under them.
“In six years of them being here, its harmed nobody. Nobody has froze to  death on our porch because they don’t have the opportunity to stand there for long enough to become wet,” she added.
Meanwhile, Dublin Ink took to Facebook again this morning to thank people for their support, and told how they were gearing up for a protest to take place outside their studio at some stage today.
