Limerick party like a ‘nightclub but in the street’
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A man who witnessed Tuesday night's street party in Limerick has said it was like a “nightclub”.
The incident occurred in the Castletroy area of Limerick City and it saw three people arrested and 30 fines issued.
Speaking to 96FM’s with PJ Coogan, College Court resident Mostafa said there were up to 20 people on the street at around 2.30pm, but the number rose throughout the night.
He said in previous weekends there had been parties every now and then, but he had never seen that number out before.
He said that it was “really tough” to see the scenes near his home, adding that it was like a “nightclub but in the street”.
Mostafa admitted it was understandable that people can’t deal with the pandemic anymore but the people on the street need to understand that they could be in contact with vulnerable people.
He said: “And they need to respect their neighbours. Most of the residents in this area are students, but there are some older people. There are some professionals living here.”
Local radio station Limerick Live 95 spoke with a resident of the Castletroy estate who said he and his housemate called the gardaí at 6.55pm on Tuesday evening after they became concerned that a student party was getting out of control.
“Mo” told the show with Joe Nash that such parties frequently happened at weekends, but the party on Tuesday began at 2.30pm with “10 to 20 students”.
He had thought the party would stop after a few hours, but by 6.30pm the numbers had increased to “about 100” and he thought not all were UL students.
Some appeared to be as young as 15, he said. Many houses in the area were rented by students who usually held parties in their backyards, not on the street. He and his housemate had become concerned and called the gardaí, who arrived at 7.32pm, he said.
Local Aontu representative Eric Nelligan told there was a lot of anger and shock in the area, but pointed out that the party did not happen on college grounds so he was not certain what action the college authorities could take.
Tonight I had calls from residents about a party & rave on the streets of College Court.
— Aontú_Limerick (@AontuL) March 2, 2021
This isn't good enough. To some, this lockdown is just a joke, others, it's a period of sustained poor mental health & loneliness. For the rest it's the fear of a death sentence. pic.twitter.com/uzmsZ7JEvm
Calls for the students involved to be expelled had been made, but he did not know if this was an option.
Mr Nelligan said he hoped the gardaí would “come down heavy” on the issue of student parties. He was concerned that some of the college results of some students could be impacted by the behaviour of their friends.
“People need to be sensible about this.” Meanwhile, University of Limerick officials will meet today to discuss the street party which saw three people arrested and 30 fines issued.
