“I sometimes think now that drinking is worse than it’s ever been.”
An emergency medical consultant at Mercy University Hospital and Cork University Hospital has described as “jaw-dropping” the events at a youth disco in Bandon that led to the hospitalisation of a number of intoxicated teenagers.
According to the Irish Examiner, three teenagers between the ages of 15 and 17 were taken to Cork University Hospital by ambulance and as many as a dozen more were treated at a makeshift hospital set up on the grounds of Bandon Rugby Club.
Reports suggest that a number of teenagers turned up at the alcohol-free disco, attended by hundreds of youths from towns and villages across the county of Cork, in a state of drunkenness and a number were refused entry as a result.
It soon became clear that a number of youths were in need of urgent medical treatment, with three being taken to Cork University Hospital by ambulance and up to a dozen others being treated on site.
Representatives working for Bandon Rugby Club, as well as first-aid responders and nurses, were commended for their response to events on the night.
Gardaí also confirmed to JOE that an incident took place at approximately 11.30pm on the night, where a teenager was allegedly assaulted by a number of youths. No injuries were sustained and no complaint has been made as of yet.
Speaking to Cork’s 96FM Opinion Line about the incident, emergency medical consultant Dr. Chris Luke said: “I sometimes think now that drinking is worse than it’s ever been. I mean, certainly, last week was jaw-dropping what was going on.”
“In the case of Bandon rugby club, from what I heard they performed extraordinarily well.
“The medical staff, the paramedics performed miracles.”
“The difficulty we had was we had parents arriving and parents giving out to the staff… that their little Johnny and little Mary had had their drink spiked,” Luke added.
“I could tell you lots of stories but I won’t go there, but having drink spiked is really very, very rare. I know people always resort to the idea they must have had their drinks spiked but when you find teenagers on buses with clinking rucksacks… how was it planted on the back of that girl?
“How were they plied by some horrible stranger with that drink? I’m sorry, it’s just not realistic to say that little Johnny or little Mary had their drink spiked.”
Luke said that parents needed to take greater responsibility for the actions of their children and of the culture surrounding alcohol that exists within their own homes.
“Parents need to understand that the greatest determinant, the greatest driver of teen drinking is the behaviour of the parent in the house, the culture within the house,” Luke added.
“I can’t tell you how upsetting it is for staff in hospitals to be working flat out, minding the young people of this country, only to be abused by parents who are alleging some mysterious third party spiked their teenager’s drink.
“If it were the case, we would have the worst epidemic of drink-spiking in the history of Europe and I don’t believe that is the case.”
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