Thousands of euro worth of property damage was caused to the property

WIDESPREAD fury has been expressed after video footage surfaced online showing young people at an after-hours party causing extensive damage to a Limerick property.

The incident made national headlines on Wednesday. The vacant residence – located in College Court, Castletroy – is the subject of an ongoing investigation by gardaí following reports of criminal damage that occurred during the early hours of Wednesday, October 7.

Videos of the incident, which have been widely shared on social media show young people throwing a bookshelf through a window, smashing in walls, and jumping off a ground-floor roof onto a mattress.

Cllr Ursula Gavan, who is also an administrator at the University of Limerick, said the “absolutely outrageous behaviour that was seen on video circulating that night and the morning after that” has become “the only thing people are talking about out here”.

Speaking to Limerick Live this Thursday, Cllr Gavan said: “It was absolute want of destruction, to see two people just get a drawer and throw it out of a window and have bins coming in to smash a sitting room window, have a fridge and an oven on the lawn, to see walls being kicked in. To make a door and it being chanted at, it’s shocking behaviour.

“These are our future leaders. This is the future and they need to take responsibility for their actions. I suppose I do have two students in my house. What we were shocked by was that nobody called it out, nobody at the party said, ‘Stop it, lads’.

“Singing songs, chanting, that’s not acceptable.

“I do think that they should all be involved in the clean up of it and not just there, but the whole wider area as well. They will be fined; there could be disciplinary action, suspensions, or expulsions.”

In a statement by Cllr Sarah Beasley to Limerick Live, the online footage was described as “a slap in the face to homeless people living in emergency accommodation”.

Cllr Beasley continued: “I felt absolutely sick when I saw these videos. To see the wanton, mindless vandalism by this group of students disgusted me.

“Students are, in the main, supposed to be somewhat intelligent, thoughtful people but this display was the exact opposite and smacks of a horrible sense of entitlement, lack of empathy and care for others. It was downright thuggery.

“I could only think of the many, many people who are desperate for a home, a roof over their heads when I saw this appalling video. Can you imagine how they felt when these saw this group on a rampage?”

Cllr Beasley added that she hopes to see those responsible “face the full rigours of the law for their behaviour”, continuing: “To say I’m disgusted is an understatement.”

Many videos of the incident have since been removed from social media platforms.

Comments on the range of videos that remain online are largely negative, with many dubbing the incident “disgraceful”.

“I don’t know how they think it’s funny, every one of them should be named and shamed and made pay for the damage,” one commenter said, while another commented: “Absolutely disgraceful, they should all be ashamed of themselves. Hope their parents see this and their parents should be ashamed too.”

Some have chosen to find a humorous side to the incident, with one video parodying an old episode of Room to Improve, playing the audio of the popular house renovation show over videos of the destruction.