Residents near UCC demand crackdown after chaotic party scenes

The scene on Washington Street on Thursday night. Picture credit: Cllr Ken O'Flynn.

Residents living near University College Cork (UCC) have called for an immediate crackdown on anti-social student behaviour after chaotic scenes outside a house party early on Friday morning

Dozens of young people crammed into a party in a house rented to students off Connaught Avenue before the party spilled onto the streets between 3am and 4am.

Phone footage shows dozens of young people partying on the street, with loud music blaring, some on the shoulders of others, shouting and roaring. Bangers and fireworks were set off nearby later.

Neighbours were ignored when they confronted some of those in the crowd, pleading with them to disperse.

One neighbour was told: “Get a life.” One of the occupants of the rented house told a neighbour he could do nothing about the house party, because people had “burst in his door”.

Gardaí were called but no arrests were made. The landlord also arrived and tried to restore order.

But residents’ spokesperson Catherine Clancy, whose group led protests in the area last year over student house parties during lockdown, said UCC and gardaí must take a stronger stance.

“If this isn’t anti-social behaviour, I don’t know what is,” she said.

“Anti-Social Behaviour Orders (ASBOs) were created for just this type of situation, and they must be used.

There is a small cohort of students that need to be dealt with severely. They are damaging the reputation of students, and of UCC.” 

She said residents living near UCC had a good meeting with the university president Prof John O’Halloran a few weeks ago, who pledged to take a strong stance on this issue.

“This now needs to be dealt with,” Ms Clancy said.

Local independent city councillor Mick Finn said he was well aware that students were returning to campus after a long hiatus and want to release the pressure that many of them have been under.

“But there is absolutely no excuse for setting off bangers and fireworks at 2am in the middle of a residential area or partying on public roads until 4am – it’s not Magaluf,” he said.

This kind of behaviour is showing a total disrespect for an area that students are living in temporarily and they certainly wouldn’t do it at home.

“The experts on social media will say ‘ah sure, they’re only having a bit of fun’… it’s not much fun for people who are wide awake at 3am and 4am because of noise and racket and who have to get up early for many reasons to bring children to school or go to work."

He called on the authorities at UCC, on students’ union leaders and Garda management to “step up to the plate”.

“At present, there are zero consequences which is fuelling the almost year round issues in the college catchment which is in turn causing reputational damage to students in general (which is not fair) and to the city," he said.

“Some older students have also complained about the behaviour because it’s giving them a bad reputation but it’s also affecting their own lives with the late night shenanigans.” 

It was a busy night for gardaí in Cork city, who also had to disperse hundreds of young people from the Washington St area of the city centre after pubs closed.

With nightclubs still closed, many young people hung around the city afterwards while others dispersed to house parties in the suburbs.