9/11 video shown to New Yorkers through Dublin Portal sparked fury and round-the-clock security, emails reveal

A photograph of the 9/11 terrorist attack, displayed to New Yorkers via The Portal, has sparked outrage among officials who are now demanding 24-hour security , we can disclose.

Emails viewed by the Irish Mirror reveal a series of tense exchanges between teams on both sides of the Atlantic after footage of the incident went viral .

The correspondence, released following a Freedom Of Information request, indicates that there was even a consideration to temporarily switch live streams in Dublin and New York at certain times to ones in Vilnius in Lithuania or Lublin in Poland - which also have portals - while a solution was being worked on to prevent reocurrences.

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One email sent to a senior manager in Dublin City Council on May 11 contained a link to a video on X of horrified onlookers in New York being shown a clip of the 9/11 Terror Attack from the Irish side.

The sender, whose identity has been redacted but is believed to be an official in New York, said: "This was going to happen at some point and I can look momentarily beyond the idiot who decided this was how he/she wanted to use the portal."

"But the fact this person was able to scale the structure's height seemingly without anyone trying to stop them from placing their phone next to the eye of the camera is what needs to be addressed by Dublin before I get ordered to shut it down."

The email went on: "I understand there is rotating police at certain times, but you need to have a 24/7 security presence/booth stationed at the site so bad/dumb actors aren't climbing the portal and broadcasting whatever they want to NYC at zoomed in proportions."

The correspondence recognised that not "everything was preventable" with security.

It continued: "You have known that my organization has taken extra security measures from the onset to try to deter dumb things like this, and I'd ask for Dublin ... to do the same so we can try and keep the portal running at all times rather than shutting it each evening."

"Thanks - you are a terrific partner and I know we can resolve."

Reacting to the incident, a senior manager at Dublin City Council labelled it as "disturbing".

They countered by saying: "It could be hard to stop even with security as it happens really quickly."

"In Ireland we don't have a system for private security to manage public spaces like the US. It's not an option for us."

The official from Dublin City Council also mentioned the increase in "police patrols" but emphasised that the Gardai were unable to "dedicate a resource".

The message concluded: "Hopefully Portal can resolve asap. We do have an option to switch feeds to Vilnius, Lublin from a certain time period in Dublin so maybe we could look at this option? ".

An email, thought to be from the New York team, stated: "I'm in favour of pausing the livestream in Dublin until the camera is adjusted/blurred to prevent this. Can the NYC Portal be switched to show Vilnius for the time being."

However, this suggestion was later dismissed. The eagerly awaited Dublin-New York portal, crafted by Lithuanian artist Benediktas Gylys, was unveiled on May 8.

Initially broadcasting non-stop, the project drew huge crowds in both cities but soon found itself at the centre of controversy due to several notorious incidents, including people mooning, displaying pornographic content, the 9/11 video, and Only Fans model Ava Louise exposing herself to Dubliners.

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Correspondence reveals that officials were scrambling to find a fix for the "inappropriate flashing" shortly after the portal's debut.

An urgent message sent to the teams in America and Ireland highlighted the challenge of completely eradicating unsavoury acts.

It said: "We have 24/7 monitoring but these instances are difficult because even when interfering with 1 sec latency, people are non-stop filming the Portal and then share images on social media."

The scandalous behaviour grabbed headlines in both Ireland and New York, leading to multiple temporary closures of the portal as frazzled officials sought a solution.

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On May 13, an email presumably from a New York official read: "Yes - keep paused until morning."

"And Until camera and climbing the portal is addressed on both sides I think we need to keep portal off for a portion of the mid/late night hours for the upcoming week."

"Sad but it's not worth the negative attention this is picking up from social media and tabloids, to say the least for our sanity."

"While the portal was live the Portals organisation paid for the 24hr monitoring of the live feed to try and combat anti-social behaviour."

"While this was not fully successful, it did highlight a key piece of information. On the Dublin side, nearly all the bad actors and poor behaviour happened after 9pm Irish time."

The portal has been operational since May 19 with limited hours, onsite portal ambassadors, and tech that blurs the feed if anything is held too close to the camera.

These new measures are in addition to an existing monitoring team.

Streaming times for the portal are set from 6am to 4pm at the Flatiron South Public Plaza at Broadway, Fifth Avenue and 23rd Street in New York City , and from 11am to 9pm on North Earl Street in Dublin.

The initiative is slated to continue into the autumn.

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