Boozy teens not welcome on streets of Dingle
TEENAGERS swigging beer and hard liquor on the streets of Dingle over the festive season will run the risk of having their drink confiscated by Gardaí, who are determind to stop the underage boozing that has become a seasonal headache for the town in recent years.
The problem is largely associated with coach tours bringing hundreds of young revellers to Dingle on St Stephen’s night and also on New Year’s Eve. Over the past two years some 30 coaches arrived in Dingle on St Stephen’s night and with round-trip package deals being advertised on social media and the internet a similar number can be expected this year.
The coaches travel from throughout Kerry and, in most cases, drop their passengers by arrangement near the Hillgrove Nightclub where they can then party the night away. However, some buses fail to follow convention and drop passengers at the Bus Éireann bus stop on The Tracks or elsewhere in town, which doesn’t go down well with Dingle publicans who don’t want to deal with over-excited teenagers who’ve had more drink than they can handle.
Some of the partying teenagers are underage and after they are refused entry to pubs they are left with no option but to spend the night on the streets, often drinking from bottles and cans while they await the bus home. The accounts of drunken young teens being found senseless on the streets are numerous.
In an effort to deal with the problem, extra Gardaí will be on duty on St Stephen’s night this year and Dingle Sergeant Tom Burke said this week that they will meet the buses coming into town and will not tolerate people drinking around the streets.
“People bringing bottles of vodka and cans of beer and drinking them around the streets can expect Gardaí to take them off them… We’re not trying to persecute anybody but we are going to clamp down on this sort of thing,” he said.
Sgt Burke said that, in recent years, local Gardaí have had to ‘ babysit’ lost and drunken teenagers while waiting for their parents to drive to Dingle to collect them and he appealed to parents to think carefully before allowing their children to travel to Dingle on St Stephen’s night and New Year’s Eve.
“Parents shouldn’t let 15 and 16-year-old back to Dingle to go drinking for the night. Parents need to be more responsible about their children - they know well what they’re going back to Dingle for,” he said.
Meanwhile, the pubs of Dingle will be open until 2am on New Year’s Eve to accommodate the multitudes who reckon there is no better place in the country to celebrate the New Year. West Kerry Vintners Federation Chairman John Benny Moriarty said it is hoped the late opening will encourage the crowds to disperse throughout the town, avoiding the post midnight crush in the pubs around Main Street.