5 charged over party touted on Facebook

Five people have been charged with public order offences after almost 200 people, mostly students, attended a Facebook-advertised house party in a Cork suburb.

Gardaí are now examining social networking sites to track down the organisers.

“We are monitoring social media networks like Facebook and Twitter,” said Supt Charlie Barry.

“We are aware of what’s going on and who’s saying it. If people are going to organise things like this, then they have a responsibility to their neighbours, and if there is any serious incident, it will be investigated.”

People began arriving at the rented detached house on Melbourne Rd in Bishopstown from around 5pm on Thursday.

By 10pm, neighbours estimated that there were up to 200 people inside.

The party spilled out onto the streets, with revellers drinking in gardens, on the estate’s roads, and on a busy public road nearby.

Gardaí were called and almost 20 uniformed officers, four garda cars, a patrol van and an ambulance arrived.

They cleared the house quickly and arrested five people in their late teens and early 20s for public order offences.

They were taken to Togher Garda Station, where they were charged and later released. They are due before the courts at a later date.

Cork’s Lord Mayor, John Buttimer, who represents the area, visited the estate as gardaí were clearing the house.

“There was very little noise at that stage and the gardaí were getting reasonable co-operation,” said Mr Buttimer. “But my first thought was utter disappointment that there is still a cohort of students which doesn’t seem to recognise the rights of local residents. I hope the message goes out that there will be a zero-tolerance approach taken by gardaí to this kind of behaviour.”

Supt Barry said extra patrols are being mounted in the area in the run-up to Christmas to crack down on crime, in particular on burglary.

He also said gardaí are closely monitoring social media sites ahead of next Thursday — the traditional date of “Christmas Day” celebrations organised by some students at Cork Institute of Technology.

CIT and its students’ union severed all ties with the event in 2007. It then descended into a day-long drinking binge, attracting up to 3,000 students.

Following a major garda crackdown, last year’s event passed quietly.

A spokesperson for CIT said that, as far as the college is concerned, next Thursday is a regular college day and students are obliged to attend classes and lectures.