Garda issues party warning

Social media post led to tens of teenagers getting buses from around county to Bandon

A WEST Cork garda chief has warned teenagers against posting events on social media following an incident in Bandon last week which saw up to 80 people from across the county hoping to gate-crash a girl’s birthday party.

Chief Supt Con Cadogan made the plea after he said teenagers from Ballincollig, Carrigaline, Cork city, and even as far as Midleton, turned up – some in hired buses – to attend a birthday party in the Deerpark estate.

‘It seems that a young girl had posted about her party on Facebook and these young people then hired private buses to bring them to Bandon with the intention of attending this party,’ Chief Supt Cadogan told The Southern Star.

‘Over 80 people turned up in the town centre and once we were made aware of the situation we implemented a policing plan and immediately made contact with the bus operators to transport them back.’

Chief Supt Cadogan said the girl’s parents were ‘shocked’  as they didn’t realise what was going on. Gardaí also patrolled the estate for several hours that Tuesday evening and made two arrests for drug possession.

‘This could have created huge problems in trying to implement social distancing and public health guidelines in relation to Covid-19. Young people seem to think that they are immune to the virus,’ he added.

Chief Supt Cadogan noted it was a similar incident to the much-publicised one in Co Kildare last week where an estimated 200 people turned up at a party after seeing a Snapchat post. An invite was circulated online in that case.

He confirmed that gardaí will also be contacting the bus operators who brought the party-goers to Bandon.

Chief Supt Cadogan’s warnings come  in the wake of a suspected Covid case at a house party held in Timoleague recently which led to three GAA clubs having to suspend activities until they got the all-clear (see below).

The Timoleague incident has led to a lot of division in the community with neighbours of the party-holder reportedly being very anxious that the incident may have potentially imported the virus into their community.