Eight arrested over holiday centre fight

GARDA reinforcements had to be called to quell a major disturbance at one of Ireland’s premier holiday centres, which resulted in the arrest of eight men.

A garda spokesman said that at around 9pm on Sunday, management at Trabolgan holiday centre in East Cork reported a row had broken out within the complex.

Two gardaí in a patrol car were dispatched from Midleton but were unable to restore peace. They called for back up.

“Reinforcements arrived from Youghal, Midleton and Cobh and they managed to restore order,” the spokes-man said.

He said a member of the bar staff was assaulted when he tried to stop a fight between rival groups from the Dublin area.

Families, especially those with small children, ran for cover when the fighting started.

During the incident, which lasted about half an hour, pool cues and pieces of furniture were used as weapons. Windows were damaged.

Despite the ferocity, no one involved in the row sustained serious injuries and no gardaí were hurt while restoring order.

According to gardaí, cells at the Midleton station were quickly filled and some of those arrested were also transferred to cells at Cobh.

“Eight people were arrested in the end. They were all males and ranged in age from approximately 22 to 35. They will be going before the courts,” the spokesman added.

It is believed that many of those involved in the fracas had consumed quite a lot of alcohol and this may have been a contributory factor in sparking the violence.

Apart from the incident at Trabolgan, gardaí said, it was a relatively quiet weekend in Cork, and they mainly had to deal with a small number of public order incidents, the majority of which were caused by too much drink.

Between Thursday night and yesterday morning, gardaí in Cork city arrested 25 motorists on suspicion of drink driving.

The majority of those arrested were men aged between 20 and 40.