“People think this is the norm. It’s not normal.”
Gardaí said they “moved on” a number of people in Cork over the weekend as 300 students gathered in College Road.
With students returning to college from last week, residents in the area have reported anti-social behaviour such as bottle-throwing and public urination in the area.
One disgruntled resident said on Monday that the gathering of what she estimated was roughly 300 students “kicked off with a vengeance” before Gardaí dispersed the crowd.
Another resident in the area, David, who lives in the Highfield Avenue in College Road said that a number of students were throwing bottles at his wife and the feet of other passerby’s in the area.
“Between the pavements and the road, there’s broken glass everywhere,” David said on the Neil Prenvdeville show on Monday.
He added that a number of the students had come from packed houseshares, “I don’t know physically how they got them in there,” he said.
“They look like they are first year or second years.”
“We met the college security last night, we met a student patrol. There were four young people there and they were about 20 or 30 yards away from it, they didn’t approach the party at all and in one way you couldn’t blame them.
“People think it’s normal for this area, the students that move here feel it’s normal behaviour and it’s okay. People think this is the norm. It’s not normal.”
Gardaí said on Monday that while they did respond to reports of groups gathered in the area they have no reports of any arrests or serious incidents.
“Proactive patrols were conducted by Gardaí in the area as part of local policing plans focussed on tackling anti-social behaviour and a number of people were moved on,” they added in a statement to JOE.
It comes as for the first time ever University College Cork (UCC) Students’ Union and UCC events are hosting a ‘Sophomore Week’ for students returning to campus for the first time due to Covid-19’s impact.
They described the event as a “week of entertainment and fun on campus for second-year students” and the schedule of events is set to be released over the coming days.
UCC said in a statement to JOE on Monday that it “works together with its Students’ Union to promote awareness and adherence to public health guidelines and our wider responsibility to our community.”
They added: “The vast majority of our 22,000 students have shown remarkable resilience in the face of an unprecedented challenge at a formative time of their lives.
“UCC Campus Watch is in place to receive any allegations of breaches of our Student Rules.”
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