Judge: Breath test teens before discos
Teens should be randomly breath tested prior to discos and parents should be made sign up to a parental responsibility charter when buying event tickets, says a judge.
Judge James McNulty made the recommendations on foot of applications by three organisations seeking new licences.
There were concerns about underage drinking, sparked by incidents earlier this year including at Bandon Rugby Club last March, when some teenagers were treated for extreme alcohol intoxication and medics set up what was described as a “field hospital” to treat those affected.
During the summer, concerns were again expressed by West Cork Rapid Response personnel about an event at the Boiler Room in Clonakilty.
Representatives of both Bandon Rugby Club and the Clonakilty Agricultural Show Ltd — organisers of the Boiler Room event — were present in Bandon District Court yesterday, as were representatives from Clonakilty GAA Club, who host an event for younger teenagers.
Judge McNulty said the court has a statutory imperative to look at these issues, including under the Public Dancehalls Act 1935, which he said was more concerned with “the perils of close dancing” and that events have since moved on.
He said the court can not ignore reports in the media that involved teenagers “in a distressed state” from the consumption of excess alcohol.
“These children were clearly unsupervised and out of control in the vicinity of what you might call dance clubs or discos,” Judge McNulty said.
His proposals, which will now be considered by the applicants ahead of any granting of licences, includes that they acquire breathalysers and carry out random testing before entry, alongside the use of CCTV systems.
“As things change, systems should change,” Judge McNulty said.
He also said that “people hosting these events should know their customers and know who is coming”.
The judge said he is not haranguing or criticising anyone, but that organisers can engage parents more fully by ensuring that tickets could only be bought by parents and collected by them in person.
At that stage, parents would be asked to sign “parental responsibility commitments”, copies of which were circulated to the applicants and the media.
It includes a commitment from parents to be contactable by mobile phone, that they should be personally involved in the travelling arrangements of their child and that they will be required to accompany their child to a garda station for interview and to any court hearing that may follow in the event that their child is found using or in possession of any drug.
The first provision reads: “I know this event must by law be alcohol-free and drug-free, and I agree that those who organise and supervise this event may take all reasonable steps including CCTV use and random breathalyser testing to ensure that it is drug and alcohol-free.”
Judge McNulty also said events should be either for a younger age group or an older age group, rather than a mix, and that capacity should be reduced.
Solicitors for all three applicants outlined the strenuous efforts made to ensure their events went off without incident.
The court was told a nurse was already on site to sniff the breaths of randomly-selected children at Clonakilty GAA Club, which hosts an event for first- and second-year students.
Over the past year, just 11 children were referred to the event’s nurse’s room, just two of whom had any cause for concern over alcohol.
Veronica Neville for Bandon Rugby Club said of situation at the March event: “These children never came inside the door. There were children who went in and went out and never knew anything of the ugliness of that night.”
Regarding the Boiler Room, solicitor Colette McCarthy said two people were treated on a night in July but neither were in the venue, adding that it was later determined that no drugs were involved.
All parties will return to court next month having considered the proposals.
