Reputation of Irish students intact despite damage to apartment

The damage caused by some Irish J1 students to their accommodation in San Francisco during the summer was described as "pretty egregious" by the US government official who oversees the program.

Robin Lerner of the US Department of State who oversees the J1 program described the incident as "a pretty egregious case of vandalism".

She was speaking an event in the RDS in Dublin aimed at building a network of current J1 travellers and alumni.

Ms Lerner also said community groups in the US have been established to help mitigate such incidences going forward.

The house in the Sunset District, owned by landlord Ritu Vohra had chandeliers ripped from the ceilings, doors broken, windows smashed and holes punched in the walls.

The students apparently left without informing Ms Vohra of the destruction, who estimated the damage would run into tens of thousands of dollars.

“We do see too much drinking, and too much public drinking,” Ms Lerner said of Irish students generally. “I think this gives us a great opportunity to talk about this sort of thing as a society. Just don’t do it. And maybe don’t run around in such big packs together.

“I think young people sometimes don’t have their heads on their shoulders and it’s always a problem. American students do these kinds of things as well when they are overseas. Sometimes they forget to be responsible.”

The damage caused in San Francisco featured on local CBS network evening news, while consul-general in San Francisco Philip Grant said “reputational damage” had been done to Irish students in the city.

Ms Lerner said that despite the actions of a minority of Irish students, they were not developing a bad reputation abroad. “The vast majority who come are fantastic and they have such a variety of experiences,” she said.

“Americans love Irish people. They are so nice and so friendly. But for example in Ocean City, when they are going out and they are getting drunk and they are getting arrested, it’s a problem for us. Drunk and disorderliness makes the mayor very unhappy, and then it makes him not like the programme.”

She said the issue of city mayors making complaints about Irish students has diminished with the formation of “community support groups” to create support structures for students as well as attempt to keep them in check.

“They stave off housing problems, make sure they know where everybody is, and keep the partying at bay,” she said. “The police know where [the students] are now as well so they’re involved from the beginning. They talk to the students and tell them ‘don’t do this or we’ll throw you in the slammer’ kind of thing, so they’re really trying to get ahead of it.

“Most of the mayors love having them. But some are trying to turn their seaside towns in family resorts so rowdy behaviour can cause a problem. But I don’t think there’s too much of that. People going to those towns are rowdy too you know.”