Town mental tonight

Mrs OBumble

It's Monday in January, but town is mental. Full of drunken people-of-student-age, queues outside all the nightclubs.

What's the deal? I thought students all did heads down to the study at this time of year.

eire.man

JustMary wrote: »

It's Tuesday in January, but town is mental. Full of drunken people-of-student-age, queues outside all the nightclubs.

What's the deal? I thought students all did heads down to the study at this time of year.

if you were staring down their future prospects you'd probably be out drinking too!

Sponge Bob

Ah lovely, the students are back.

The exams were before christmas Mary you old fogey!

Foxx92

JustMary wrote: »

I thought students all did heads down to the study at this time of year.

First day back for students and exams were pre-xmas so the 'heads down and study' is a fair bit away.

JJayoo

Was in the NUIG Gym earlier, a group of lads were drinking cans in the changing rooms :pac:

Ficheall

http://www.socs.nuigalway.ie/calendar/event/8610/140829/

DickBunce

JJayoo wrote: »

Was in the NUIG Gym earlier, a group of lads were drinking cans in the changing rooms :pac:

Saw loads hanging around Eyre Square on the way home. Far too much money!

Caliden

DickBunce wrote: »

Saw loads hanging around Eyre Square on the way home. Far too much money!

Good thing there's no fees otherwise they wouldn't be able afford a few tins

JJayoo

Good thing there's no fees otherwise they wouldn't be able afford a few tins

Good things there's unconditional love from mammy and daddy. "We don't need money for our future son, go get drunk as much as possible, and please don't ever think about getting any type of part-time job, we love paying for everything derp derp derp DERP"

inisboffin

JustMary wrote: »

It's Monday in January, but town is mental. Full of drunken people-of-student-age, queues outside all the nightclubs.

What's the deal? I thought students all did heads down to the study at this time of year.

Yeah back to school

We happened to be out tonight for a birthday and wandered in to craazy territory. T'was like free drugs tbh!

Hello world

Students out drinking, so its obvious they have far to much money and should be paying fees and getting no help from their parents. Yup we have heard it before

ben.schlomo

Sponge Bob wrote: »

Ah lovely, the students are back.

The exams were before christmas Mary you old fogey!

No sponge bob some of us had our exams last week and this week, Mary isnt that wrong.

As for town, i was out back the west and twas a normal Monday there, maybe its just the older individual shocked at not seeing town quiet on every night bar the one they go out.

inisboffin

ben.schlomo wrote: »

As for town, i was out back the west and twas a normal Monday there, maybe its just the older individual shocked at not seeing town quiet on every night bar the one they go out.

Ha ha! It was more the staff rolling their eyes and saying "Jaysus, it's f*cking mental in here tonight for a Monday"!

fishy fishy

yes they were swarming around the place with cases of booze and bottles. First day back :rolleyes:

Mrs OBumble

ben.schlomo wrote: »

No sponge bob some of us had our exams last week and this week, Mary isnt that wrong.

As for town, i was out back the west and twas a normal Monday there, maybe its just the older individual shocked at not seeing town quiet on every night bar the one they go out.

I'm glad for you that the west was normal.

I live right in town. Trust me, I know mental vs normally rowdy. If it was race or rag week, last night would have been normal. For a regular January night it was not.

ben.schlomo

JustMary wrote: »

I'm glad for you that the west was normal.

I live right in town. Trust me, I know mental vs normally rowdy. If it was race or rag week, last night would have been normal. For a regular January night it was not.

For the record i live in the middle of town too, didn't notice it being that bad but fair enough.

The Cool

Aye, GMIT have exams at the moment but NUIG had them before Christmas so it's party time for all the kiddies who aren't desperately waiting on the next grant installment! In fairness it's not about having too much money. Give them loads of money, they will have proper food and drink. Give them feck all money, they will have koka noodles and drink! It's all part of being 18!

Wompa1

Funny, there was a think on Newstalk yesterday about the drink problem in the country and how it's getting worse in younger age groups with talk of a rumoured huge increase in drink prices. Some guy from DIT was on ****en on about it and how much it's hurting the economy due to drink related incidents being so common. I would have thought the money being made from selling all the drink would off-set the cost of all the accidents and emergencies but I guess not.

BhoscaCapall

Welcome to Galway, where the locals whinge about the economy when the place is dead, and whinge about students having too much money when they're spending it everywhere.

inisboffin

BhoscaCapall wrote: »

Welcome to Galway, where the locals whinge about the economy when the place is dead, and whinge about students having too much money when they're spending it everywhere.

I for one anyway was't whinging - more observing/agreeing. I was actually quite entertained by the mentalness (and no one puked on me or hit me!):p

kraggy

Hello world wrote: »

Students out drinking, so its obvious they have far to much money and should be paying fees and getting no help from their parents. Yup we have heard it before

Since fees were abolished in the 90's, the quality of courses has steadily declined and the number of useless degrees has increased owing to the fact that more meaningnless courses = more money for the colleges.

If fees were reintroduced:

a. it would give the universities/colleges the necessary money to maintain courses

b. it would mean that the purposeless courses that were introduced in recent years would slowly die a death as people realise that spending circa 5000 euro on a B.A in Shite isn't such a good idea

c. it would mean that students whose parents are spending a minimum of 15,000 euro on a degree course before their child is fed or watered will have to think twice about spending months on end on the piss in town.


Win win situation as far as I can see.

Mrs OBumble

BhoscaCapall wrote: »

Welcome to Galway, where the locals whinge about the economy when the place is dead, and whinge about students having too much money when they're spending it everywhere.

I'm not whinging about the fact that they have money to spend ... fair play to Mammy and Daddy that they do.

However I'm not always entirely amused by the way they choose to behave in our streets, especially streets where it's blatantly obvious that people live.

ben.schlomo

JustMary wrote: »

I'm not whinging about the fact that they have money to spend ... fair play to Mammy and Daddy that they do.

However I'm not always entirely amused by the way they choose to behave in our streets, especially streets where it's blatantly obvious that people live.

Always amazes me how some people are born at age 40 and dont have teenage years or early adulthood, they just jump straight to cranky middle age

Sponge Bob

Mary and I party together all the time. Your round of slammers next time Mary.

ben.schlomo

Sponge Bob wrote: »

Mary and I party together all the time. Your round of slammers next time Mary.

Haha i havent heard the word 'slammers' in years. Its shots nowadays.

BhoscaCapall

JustMary wrote: »

I'm not whinging about the fact that they have money to spend ... fair play to Mammy and Daddy that they do.

However I'm not always entirely amused by the way they choose to behave in our streets, especially streets where it's blatantly obvious that people live.

Or, you know, they might be some of the students who were lucky enough to find a part-time job that wasn't already taken by an adult who didn't get the proper qualifications when they were younger to have a career position.

If it wasn't for the colleges in Galway the city would just be a glorified Clifden. Have you been there in the winter? Grim.

Wompa1

BhoscaCapall wrote: »

Or, you know, they might be some of the students who were lucky enough to find a part-time job

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oShTJ90fC34

tracker-man

... fair play to Mammy and Daddy that they do.

You are trolling... Surely?

BhoscaCapall wrote: »

Or, you know, they might be some of the students who were lucky enough to find a part-time job that wasn't already taken by an adult who didn't get the proper qualifications when they were younger to have a career position.

Yup thats me. Two part time jobs going AND a 30 hour college week. Its not easy keeping everything up so its nice to let off some steam with friends the odd night. Agree with the comment of some people being born at age 40! :rolleyes: Work hard play hard I say! One thing that really annoys me though, is the looks of contempt from occupy Galway if you walk past late at night. Here I am doing something productive with my life, AND benifitting the economy, while they sit on their arses all day everyday, are on the dole AND take donations. ha. pathetic.

Wompa1

tracker-man wrote: »

You are trolling... Surely?



Yup thats me. Two part time jobs going AND a 30 hour college week. Its not easy keeping everything up so its nice to let off some steam with friends the odd night. Agree with the comment of some people being born at age 40! :rolleyes: Work hard play hard I say! One thing that really annoys me though, is the looks of contempt from occupy Galway if you walk past late at night. Here I am doing something productive with my life, AND benifitting the economy, while they sit on their arses all day everyday, are on the dole AND take donations. ha. pathetic.

Would you say you are the rule or the exception? Do you think most people who are out when you go out are letting lose having worked their 2 or 3 short hour contracts to pay their way?...

BhoscaCapall

Wompa1 wrote: »

Would you say you are the rule or the exception? Do you think most people who are out when you go out are letting lose having worked their 2 or 3 short hour contracts to pay their way?...

Forgive me for not noticing the abundance of part-time jobs just waiting for those lazy students to stroll into.

tracker-man

Wompa1 wrote: »

Would you say you are the rule or the exception? Do you think most people who are out when you go out are letting lose having worked their 2 or 3 short hour contracts to pay their way?...

I think the majority of students have a source of income other than Mammy/Daddy/Grant, yes. At least, the students I seem to be surrounded by anyway! But it isn't a huge issue not having a part-time job. It just means serious budgeting every week for that particular night out. If that means eating less and going without phone credit or toilet paper then thats what students will do! Social life is still at the top of priorities along with passing the year so whatever the income of a student, there will always be just enough cash to have one night out a week. I just didn't like JustMary's (implied?) suggestion that all students who let loose are being wholly funded by weekly bank lodgements from their parents!

tracker-man

BhoscaCapall wrote: »

Forgive me for not noticing the abundance of part-time jobs just waiting for those lazy students to stroll into.

Nobody "strolls" into a job these days. But try hard enough for long enough and you just my succeed. And be willing to do a job you don't like.

Wompa1

tracker-man wrote: »

I think the majority of students have a source of income other than Mammy/Daddy/Grant, yes. At least, the students I seem to be surrounded by anyway! But it isn't a huge issue not having a part-time job. It just means serious budgeting every week for that particular night out. If that means eating less and going without phone credit or toilet paper then thats what students will do! Social life is still at the top of priorities along with passing the year so whatever the income of a student, there will always be just enough cash to have one night out a week. I just didn't like JustMary's (implied?) suggestion that all students who let loose are being wholly funded by weekly bank lodgements from their parents!

I think that's kind of peoples point though. There's protests over fees and grants but as it is students have been living not just getting by but very well. I never got money from my parents for college, my dad was put out of work after a car accident and my mother couldn't afford to help me. I worked full time hours to keep myself a float. I have known a lot of students and would say in my opinion the majority of third level students do not work more than 8 hours a week. That's not to say every student doesn't work because I believe there are exceptions and more respect to those ones

Wompa1

BhoscaCapall wrote: »

Forgive me for not noticing the abundance of part-time jobs just waiting for those lazy students to stroll into.

tracker-man has 2 jobs, my g/f has 3. There's jobs out there for people who want them and built a decent work history over the last few years

BhoscaCapall

Wompa1 wrote: »

tracker-man has 2 jobs, my g/f has 3.

Might explain why there's f*** all jobs then :pac:
Out of interest, how does one work 3 jobs? What sort of weird hours does she get that allows her to fit 3 jobs into a week?

And let's not neglect the fact that a majority of people seem to have "built a decent work history" thanks to a lucky break (nepotism). I am one of the few people I know who managed to get a job without it, and I've had no luck since.

Wompa1

BhoscaCapall wrote: »

Might explain why there's f*** all jobs then :pac:
Out of interest, how does one work 3 jobs? What sort of weird hours does she get that allows her to fit 3 jobs into a week?

1 job is only 1 day a week for 6 hours. The other is 3 to 4 days a week usually 4-6 hour shifts, sometimes a full shift and the other job is flexi-time. The work is always there but they let her pick and choose what days she works. She's actually thinking of quitting the 1 day a week job because she has so many hours.

Also for extra cash she looks around and signs up to be participants in surveys, they usually pay 50 euro a head for 2 hours. She gets into college 2 days a week but in her year there's not that many lectures any way, it's mostly practical work.

Also it's not something I've seen mentioned on here which is strange because it's so wide spread but most retail jobs now are hiring for 4 hour contracts. So some people only get 4 hours a week depending on demand. So a lot of people need to work multiple jobs to get decent hours.

BhoscaCapall

Wompa1 wrote: »

1 job is only 1 day a week for 6 hours. The other is 3 to 4 days a week usually 4-6 hour shifts, sometimes a full shift and the other job is flexi-time. The work is always there but they let her pick and choose what days she works. She's actually thinking of quitting the 1 day a week job because she has so many hours.

For all intents and purposes that is basically one job, in terms of hours.

Also for extra cash she looks around and signs up to be participants in surveys, they usually pay 50 euro a head for 2 hours

Do you have any more info on this, because every survey I've seen has paid more in the region of 30c to complete (online).

Also it's not something I've seen mentioned on here which is strange because it's so wide spread but most retail jobs now are hiring for 4 hour contracts. So some people only get 4 hours a week depending on demand. So a lot of people need to work multiple jobs to get decent hours.

I know the stock reply to what I'm about to say is "you should take anything you're given", but 4 hours a week is not a job. It's more like 1/5th of a job. You make what, €30-40? You can make more than that down the bookies.

Wompa1

BhoscaCapall wrote: »

For all intents and purposes that is basically one job, in terms of hours.


Do you have any more info on this, because every survey I've seen has paid more in the region of 30c to complete (online).


I know the stock reply to what I'm about to say is "you should take anything you're given", but 4 hours a week is not a job. It's more like 1/5th of a job. You make what, €30-40? You can make more than that down the bookies.

I can ask her for more info on the surveys. It was a sit down interview type thing in the Harbour Hotel. It's only every other month so far. You'd be making around 36 euro for 4 hours work. What she does do now is a typical full time working week while doing college.

She doesn't get the grant but is pushing to get an answer as to why not because it doesn't make sense. She meets all the criteria but gets rejected every year....same happened to me when I looked for it.

Anyway in her position. She's a student and so can't get the dole. She has been denied the grant. She lost her previous job in August and has to pay her own way so her only option is to take whatever work she can get. She got the first job within 2 weeks of losing the previous job and got the other 2 in October.

The amount of jobs that were going in the town between October and December was more than I can remember for a long time. But that's opinion and not a fact.

Wompa1

kraggy wrote: »

Since fees were abolished in the 90's, the quality of courses has steadily declined and the number of useless degrees has increased owing to the fact that more meaningnless courses = more money for the colleges.

If fees were reintroduced:

a. it would give the universities/colleges the necessary money to maintain courses

b. it would mean that the purposeless courses that were introduced in recent years would slowly die a death as people realise that spending circa 5000 euro on a B.A in Shite isn't such a good idea

c. it would mean that students whose parents are spending a minimum of 15,000 euro on a degree course before their child is fed or watered will have to think twice about spending months on end on the piss in town.


Win win situation as far as I can see.

.....I don't think changing the way the University gets it's money would have an impact on the quality it delivers. Are you suggesting those paying fees pay more than the government has been subsidizing the fees by?

thesandeman

Walked dog around Woodquay a few hours ago. 1:10 to be exact.

Turned the corner by the opticians. The first four doorways from the dressmakers up had guys peeing against them. The next doorway and the entrance just up from it had recently been 'stained' and the remains of a bottle(s) of Buckie smashed outside.

Strangly enough the Square was quiet enough but thats probably because most people were in the clubs at that stage or maybe because the Occupy Camp had a calming effect on the revellers.

Im not saying those four lads and whoever 'went' before them were students but as a Townie I would be quite happy to have a big wager on it.

Im a Socialist all my life but I really think bringing back proper fees (means tested) might actually teach the current lot* a bit of respect for the city they are living in and the people they are sharing it with.

*no offence meant to students who enjoy themselves and become part of Galway. My problem is with the ones who abuse the hospitality.

joeKel73

Remember there are around 17,000 students in NUIG and around 9,000 in GMIT.

If there are 1,000 students being a drunken mess on the streets at night, that's still less than 4% of the student population.

There have been students in working all over the Christmas, late into the evenings, 7 days a week. A lot of courses (like engineering which I did) would not allow the time for a part time job, you could have up to 40hours of college then assignments and study on top of that.

Raging_Ninja

thesandeman wrote: »

Walked dog around Woodquay a few hours ago. 1:10 to be exact.

Turned the corner by the opticians. The first four doorways from the dressmakers up had guys peeing against them. The next doorway and the entrance just up from it had recently been 'stained' and the remains of a bottle(s) of Buckie smashed outside.

Strangly enough the Square was quiet enough but thats probably because most people were in the clubs at that stage or maybe because the Occupy Camp had a calming effect on the revellers.

Im not saying those four lads and whoever 'went' before them were students but as a Townie I would be quite happy to have a big wager on it.

Im a Socialist all my life but I really think bringing back proper fees (means tested) might actually teach the current lot* a bit of respect for the city they are living in and the people they are sharing it with.

*no offence meant to students who enjoy themselves and become part of Galway. My problem is with the ones who abuse the hospitality.

Better ways might be to crack down on anti-social behaviour and incentivize the guards to make arrests (in the US, police officers receive money for every arrest they make), have the courts process the cases more swiftly and hand out fines.

Mrs OBumble

ben.schlomo wrote: »

Always amazes me how some people are born at age 40 and dont have teenage years or early adulthood, they just jump straight to cranky middle age

I'm now in my early 40s.

But when I was a student, I didn't spend Monday nights getting plastered and then act the maggot loudly while walking down streets where lots of people live. My friends didn't p*ss in people's doorway. I didn't drink in the street, and I didn't leave broken bottles all over the place.

YMMV.

Wompa1

J o e wrote: »

Remember there are around 17,000 students in NUIG and around 9,000 in GMIT.

If there are 1,000 students being a drunken mess on the streets at night, that's still less than 4% of the student population.

There have been students in working all over the Christmas, late into the evenings, 7 days a week. A lot of courses (like engineering which I did) would not allow the time for a part time job, you could have up to 40hours of college then assignments and study on top of that.

It would allow for a part time job if that's the only way you could survive.....
I've heard lots of people make that claim. A lot of people doing Engineering also. It's BS. If you absolutely have to work, you will do it no matter what course you are doing.

joeKel73

Wompa1 wrote: »

It would allow for a part time job if that's the only way you could survive.....
I've heard lots of people make that claim. A lot of people doing Engineering also. It's BS. If you absolutely have to work, you will do it no matter what course you are doing.

It's not BS. If you're in college until 11pm, home at 11.30pm and back in for 9am... it really doesn't leave much allowance for work. If you have to work to fund your studies, then I think your area of study is limited to some less time-demanding courses.

Hello world

kraggy wrote: »

Hello world wrote: »

Students out drinking, so its obvious they have far to much money and should be paying fees and getting no help from their parents. Yup we have heard it before

Since fees were abolished in the 90's, the quality of courses has steadily declined and the number of useless degrees has increased owing to the fact that more meaningnless courses = more money for the colleges.

If fees were reintroduced:

a. it would give the universities/colleges the necessary money to maintain courses

b. it would mean that the purposeless courses that were introduced in recent years would slowly die a death as people realise that spending circa 5000 euro on a B.A in Shite isn't such a good idea

c. it would mean that students whose parents are spending a minimum of 15,000 euro on a degree course before their child is fed or watered will have to think twice about spending months on end on the piss in town.


Win win situation as far as I can see.

What about the parents who can't afford to send their child to college? Is that family doomed to generations of poverty?
The reason quality of courses has declined is because more and more places became available and the points to get into the corses dropped then you have a bunch of idiots doing a course causing it to be a worthless degree
I don't understand how u can consider it a win win?

Wompa1

J o e wrote: »

It's not BS. If you're in college until 11pm, home at 11.30pm and back in for 9am... it really doesn't leave much allowance for work. If you have to work to fund your studies, then I think your area of study is limited to some less time-demanding courses.

If you need to pay for rent, college and food etc. You'd prioritize around work and then bust your ass whatever other time you have. Every lunch break, before work, after work, absolutely no going out etc. I had projects, thesis, tutorials and lectures. 32 hours a week between lectures and labs alone.

I'm very skeptical of anybody that says they can't work because it's often the one's that don't have to. 2 of my housemates did Civil Engineering. They were under pressure sure, but they also had their sleep ins, the odd night out, going to a match here and there, going home for christmas and taking it easy. Whilst that was the time I was working.

An ex of mine was doing a PhD and made the same BS excuse and then spent 3 months without going into the office or doing any work and smoked Pot all day..She'll still get her PhD, I'd bet a thousand euros on it. If you HAVE to work to support yourself you will.

Hello world

Wompa1 wrote: »

J o e wrote: »

It's not BS. If you're in college until 11pm, home at 11.30pm and back in for 9am... it really doesn't leave much allowance for work. If you have to work to fund your studies, then I think your area of study is limited to some less time-demanding courses.

If you need to pay for rent, college and food etc. You'd prioritize around work and then bust your ass whatever other time you have. Every lunch break, before work, after work, absolutely no going out etc. I had projects, thesis, tutorials and lectures. 32 hours a week between lectures and labs alone.

I'm very skeptical of anybody that says they can't work because it's often the one's that don't have to. 2 of my housemates did Civil Engineering. They were under pressure sure, but they also had their sleep ins, the odd night out, going to a match here and there, going home for christmas and taking it easy. Whilst that was the time I was working.

An ex of mine was doing a PhD and made the same BS excuse and then spent 3 months without going into the office or doing any work and smoked Pot all day..She'll still get her PhD, I'd bet a thousand euros on it. If you HAVE to work to support yourself you will.

Yeah anyone could fit in work and college but if your doing a course with 40 hours of lectures and labs a week then study, assignments, lab write ups u end up doing about 55-60 hours a week +8 hours sleep
So in your 5 day week you spend 40 hours sleeping and 60 doing college work so u have 20 hours left which unless u want to go mad you spend it socialising.
Then you have the weekend to work... But oh wait there are no jobs and don't say there are because there is feck all and not enough for all college goers who need it
This is assuming you are doing an intensive course arts people could easily fit a job in with their 20 hours a week

Wompa1

Hello world wrote: »

Yeah anyone could fit in work and college but if your doing a course with 40 hours of lectures and labs a week then study, assignments, lab write ups u end up doing about 55-60 hours a week +8 hours sleep
So in your 5 day week you spend 40 hours sleeping and 60 doing college work so u have 20 hours left which unless u want to go mad you spend it socialising.
Then you have the weekend to work... But oh wait there are no jobs and don't say there are because there is feck all and not enough for all college goers who need it
This is assuming you are doing an intensive course arts people could easily fit a job in with their 20 hours a week

There's always jobs if you are willing to work them. Not all college goers are looking for jobs you know. Right now off the top of my head I could tell you The Skeff is looking for a receptionist, so to is the Clayton and I know there's some place in Oranmore looking for Full and Part time Staff..think it's a furniture place. Not sure. I'm not looking for a job, I just noticed those in my travels. Subway on Abbeygate Street is looking every other month so to is Happy Days on the Headford Road and Dunnes in Terryland. Do something to outshine the 17,000 and get yourself a job. Or if you have worked in retail through the boom years your CV is probably a good bit more attractive to an employer than many others who didn't. So happy days.

More on point. 55-60 hours a week sounds like less than I did in final year and I still worked full time for 1 semester and part time for the second. You do what you have to do. When I got my part time hours in second semester I actually missed more lectures than in first semester because I had to bust my ass to catch up with my project and thesis. Working doesn't help your grade for sure, If I didn't work I'd have easily managed a 1.1, as a result of working I got a 2.1. I then got the job I'm in now a week after my last exam. I was 1 of only 3 to apply. Good old 2007 Everybody else in my course went travelling or stayed in college. Suckers

inisboffin

Wompa1 wrote: »

There's always jobs if you are willing to work them. Not all college goers are looking for jobs you know. Right now off the top of my head I could tell you The Skeff is looking for a receptionist, so to is the Clayton and I know there's some place in Oranmore looking for Full and Part time Staff..think it's a furniture place. Not sure. I'm not looking for a job, I just noticed those in my travels. Subway on Abbeygate Street is looking every other month so to is Happy Days on the Headford Road and Dunnes in Terryland. Do something to outshine the 17,000 and get yourself a job. Or if you have worked in retail through the boom years your CV is probably a good bit more attractive to an employer than many others who didn't. So happy days.

More on point. 55-60 hours a week sounds like less than I did in final year and I still worked full time for 1 semester and part time for the second. You do what you have to do. When I got my part time hours in second semester I actually missed more lectures than in first semester because I had to bust my ass to catch up with my project and thesis. Working doesn't help your grade for sure, If I didn't work I'd have easily managed a 1.1, as a result of working I got a 2.1. I then got the job I'm in now a week after my last exam. I was 1 of only 3 to apply. Good old 2007 Everybody else in my course went travelling or stayed in college. Suckers

It really depends on the course. I have one friend who did a really demanding course. Now he did have a few hours off - not many though (barely enough, I should say, that if he worked 99% of them, he could support himself). The problem he found was to find a job - any job, that would fit in to those hours off. He found a lot of restaurant jobs wanted people with flexibility to cover a shift, stay longer if needed etc, and he simply couldn't do that. He ended taking loans - official and friends/family to support himself. He then had to emigrate, but happily found a job and paid back the loans. He's happy where he is but not everyone who emigrates is.

BhoscaCapall

J o e wrote: »

Remember there are around 17,000 students in NUIG and around 9,000 in GMIT.

If there are 1,000 students being a drunken mess on the streets at night, that's still less than 4% of the student population.

This is a good point. If someone were to criticise black taxi drivers after having bad experiences with 5 or 6 of them, they would be (hopefully) told to cop on. It seems students are one of the few groups left that you are allowed to generalise and discriminate against (landlords do it all the time).

I've been going out in Galway for 5 years and the worst fights you see are on weekends and bank holidays, from adults.

Raging_Ninja wrote: »

Better ways might be to crack down on anti-social behaviour and incentivize the guards to make arrests (in the US, police officers receive money for every arrest they make), have the courts process the cases more swiftly and hand out fines.

This might honestly be the single worst idea I have ever heard. Have you ever seen the guards in Galway on a night out (especially during Rag week)? Literally any excuse to rough up a student and bundle him into the back of a van. I've seen them do it to people for shouting, for christ's sake. I was threated with arrest when I asked a bangharda why she was confiscating two closed bottles of beer I was carrying in a plastic bag.They need no incentive, believe me!