VIDEO: Cork Lord mayor calls for crackdown on antisocial students

Lord mayor calls for crackdown on antisocial students

The Lord Mayor of Cork is to ramp up pressure on University College Cork (UCC), landlords and gardaí to crack down on alcohol-fuelled student behaviour.

Sinn Féin Cllr Chris O’Leary, a member of UCC’s board of governors, said he plans to raise the issue with university authorities.

He said there is an onus on college authorities to respond meaningfully to residents’ concerns after footage emerged of drunken students rampaging in a residential area.

Mr O’Leary said he plans to discuss with senior gardaí at the next meeting of the city’s joint policing committee the possibility of a more robust garda response to the problems.

And in his first public comment since video footage emerged of dozens of drunken students rampaging on Magazine Road, Cork’s first citizen said he also plans to reach out to embattled residents in the affected areas to assure them that the city stands behind them, and will do everything it can to support them in whatever action they decide to take.

Mr O’Leary, who has himself faced-down violent antisocial behaviour targeted at his family home, said it is vital that residents in the area are supported.

“I don’t believe that residents living in the university district should be faced with such intolerable circumstances,” he said.

“There is an onus and a responsibility on UCC to deal with this properly.

“I know it’s happening outside college hours but that’s not the point.

“There is also an onus on landlords to take responsibility here. It’s not good enough that reckless landlords can just wash their hands of this kind of behaviour.”