Teen charity ball evacuated as too many try to get in
A TEENAGE charity ball was evacuated at a hotel after almost double the number of attendees turned up for the event.
The event, at a hotel in Co Tipperary, was cancelled within around half an hour of it starting.
The event, which sold tickets for €20 in aid of Pieta House, took place on Friday.
A spokesperson for the hotel – Kilcoran Lodge Hotel, in Cahir – said that the function room used for the event can hold 320 people, which was the number it had understood would be turning up.
However, after the number of third year and transition year students that were allowed had been let in, large numbers of people are understood to have then turned up outside the venue, and were bearing tickets for the event.
It is unclear how they had managed to get hold of the tickets.
The hotel spokesperson added that some minor damage was done to the hotel, which included some broken glass.
The manager previously said that a number of teens arrived at the event drunk.
When the vast numbers tried to get into the hotel, the manager decided that the event should be cancelled.
He called gardaí for assistance.
No arrests were made, though one teenage boy suffered an injury after being struck by an object.
The boy (16) was hospitalised with minor injuries.
A Garda spokeswoman confirmed an incident where a teenage boy was injured.
“We can confirm a young male (16) was assaulted, he was hit with an object in a premises in Cahir, Tipperary, on Friday, March 16, 2018,” the spokeswoman said.
“He was brought to hospital with very minor injuries,” she added.
Last month some teens attending an under-age disco in Bandon, Co Cork, were so drunk arriving at the scene that they needed immediate medical attention.
Three ambulances were dispatched to the scene and a doctor set up a triage, before sending two critically-ill children to Cork University Hospital.
Around 500 teens attended the disco.