Jess Casey: Covid adds an extra dimension to long-term problem of partying students 

Education Correspondent Jess Casey asks if universities should consider buying the privately rented houses where students live so that they then come under the same rules as students living on university campuses

A screengrab from the street party in Castletroy. Anti-social behavior has been a problem in housing estates where students outnumber residents long before the coronavirus came along.

A second major round of mass testing just finished up at the University of Limerick, in a bid to track a Covid-19 outbreak likely to shortly top 300 cases. Some students decided to mark the occasion with fireworks and Dexys Midnight Runners.

When the Examiner visited College Court, the housing estate beside the University of Limerick (UL) that set the stage for the raucous street partying, on Tuesday night, a garda checkpoint was firmly in place. A crew was checking every car on the way in and out, prompting more than a few sharp u-turns.