UCC Students’ Union Slam City Council Proposals on College Bars

UCC Students’ Union has today criticised the passing of a City Council motion that proposes to restrict opening times of UCC’s on-campus bars during Freshers Week and RAG Week, claiming that such a move would be a retrograde step and would prove disastrous for both students and residents alike.

Aidan Coffey, UCC SU President, denounced the motion as “short sighted” and “detached from reality,” claiming it won’t address the real issues at hand. Questioning the wisdom behind the move, he said, “what do you think will happen? You’ll end up with people in houses and on the streets, and even more hassle for residents. It would be a massive step backwards.”

Citing wider problems with the Irish drinking culture, Coffey claimed that “this is further evidence of a society that prefers to demonise a majority of students for the actions of a minority, rather than acknowledge responsibility for presiding over a cultural shift of alcohol consumption in the home, rather than the pub.”

Although supportive of attempts to reduce disruption to residents, UCC SU indicated their belief that local action can have only limited success in the absence of national action on other issues, such as an increasingly prevalent drugs culture and the prohibitive price of socialising in more traditional locations, compared to cheap supermarket alcohol.