A VIDEO of what gardaí said was "a typical Saturday night" in Letterkenny was shown to a judge yesterday as he was deciding a dispute over late drinks exemptions.
The 20-minute video showed a litany of public order breaches by young people after they left clubs in the Co Donegal town.
Judge John O'Hagan heard gardaí trying to maintain order being addressed in vile language and he saw people urinating in the street. Girls, some scantily clad, staggered drunkenly and shouted obscenities.
There were scenes of a man kicking another man and another kicking bollards. Donegal Circuit Court also saw a young man lying almost comatose on the footpath.
Supt O'Brien gave a list of public order offences that prompted him to seek a one-hour cutback in the 2.30am late drinking exemptions for clubs.
He said that in 2007 there were 1,061 public order offences between 8pm and 4am in the town, which has a population of just over 15,000. He compared that with Sligo, which, with a population of almost 18,000, had 48 per cent less public order offences the same year. Letterkenny also had 264 assaults compared to Sligo's 158 last year during the night and early mornings. Most offences occurred between Thursday and Sunday nights.
Nine clubs in Bundoran, Donegal town and Letterkenny appealed against District Court orders restricting their late-drinks extensions during March, including St Patrick's and Easter weekends, to 1.30am.
Six agreed to a 2am compromise suggested by the judge. But the owner of the Abbey Hotel in Donegal town, former Fine Gael TD James White, and businessman Hugh McGee, who owns the Milan and Sister Sara's clubs in Letterkenny, held out for the traditional 2.30am last orders late exemptions.
Gardaí conceded they had no complaints about the individual premises or their owners.
The objections to 2.30am was based on statistics linking anti-social behaviour to the numbers of clubbers spilling on to the streets in the early hours.
The judge ordered that all clubs observe a 2am compromise closing time.