Majority of students celebrate ‘reasonably’
Gardaí said the night passed without major incidents, and that the vast majority of the students involved in this year’s celebrations were well behaved.
There were 13 students arrested in Cork city for public order offences, and while there were a number of detentions in Dublin, gardaí in Store St confirmed only one arrest was made.
Meanwhile, in Limerick a number of off-licences face prosecution for selling alcohol to Junior Cert students. Gardaí said they are preparing prosecutions after special surveillance operations caught an undisclosed number of outlets selling alcohol to underage people.
However, according to Barbara Johnston of the National Congress of Catholic Secondary Schools Parents Associations (CSPA), the responsibility for teenage drinking doesn’t lie with the off licences, but with the students’ parents.
“It was disgraceful to see large numbers of teenagers drinking in the centre of Dublin. There’s no doubt they had access to alcohol, and parents have a responsibility for how their children behave.” she said.
She congratulated those who behaved responsibly by choosing not to drink and celebrating in other ways, like going out for a meal.
The Accident and Emergency units of hospitals across the country said they did not notice any significant increase in teenage admissions, and family planning centres also noted that there was no significant increase in demand yesterday for the morning-after pill.
Mr John O’Donnell, a consultant in the emergency department of University College Hospital Galway, said he was surprised at how quiet it was on Wednesday night.
“It was busy enough, but not from young teenagers. Many of the nurses here have children of that age and they attributed it to a well organised social event in Leisureland in Salthill, which was well supervised by adults.” he said.
Tim O’Meara, President of the Teachers Union of Ireland (TUI) emphasised that most students celebrate in a responsible manner.
“The difficulty is that we are always exposed to the over-the-top antics and they are the ones that get reported, but in general the vast majority act in an appropriate and reasonable manner,” he said.
