Australian bouncers need more training

I can remember a Leaving Cert student telling me, a first year, how he had been kicked out of a nightclub, where he was brought down a nearby alleyway and given a few slaps by the bouncers.

Indeed there were a couple of stories doing the rounds through my school days and when I first began attending nightclubs myself.

Then the Government licensed bouncers, sent them on training courses and nightclubs and nightlife in general became safer. Now I hear horrifying stories from Australia and I wonder if the youth today are too insolent or the country needs to follow our example.

My little brother has spent the last four years living and working in Sydney, it quite shocks me to hear his experiences. A bouncer lifted him over his shoulder and dropped him on his head outside the nightclub door — O’Driscoll-style. And then, not so long ago, he rang again. This time he was walking outside a nightclub and sat on the kerb. After being told to move, and a little slow to react, he looked up to see some bouncers towering over him. He stayed put until police arrived. During this period he was subjected to many taunts. The police arrived, ordered my brother to leave and did not want to hear anything negative about the said bouncers.

So, to all young men in Australia, or to families of young men out there, nightclub security out there is not as professional as it is back home.

Barry McDonnell

Corgrove

Streamstown

Mullingar

Co Westmeath