LOCAL election candidate and UL student Séighin Ó Ceallaigh (Sinn Féin) has called for an increased Garda presence around the University and city centre for the University’s Charity Week, taking place this week.
A final year student at UL where he is studying Irish and history, he has worked as a security guard for the Charity Week event and has described it as a “free for all”.
“Gardaí need to be present to stop the mayhem during Charity Week, which leads to the damage of cars, property and the community,” claimed the 21-year-old East Limerick candidate.
Ó Ceallaigh, who is involved in UL’s Irish Language Society, encouraged students to participate in fundraising events and to “drink responsibly”.
Meanwhile, UL Student Union president Emma Porter told the Limerick Post that a lot of pre-emptive measures were taken ahead of Charity Week which concludes this Friday, March 7.
“We’ve been liaising with the Gardai, the County Council and the local residents. We’ve organised our student patrols for the surrounding estates, leaflet drops to remind students they live in residential areas and that a Garda presence will be obvious throughout the week. We’ve also organised for a higher number of our evening events to be held in town away from campus. A lot of these were measures we undertook during this year’s Fresher’s Week, which we’re proud to say went very well and was received very positively,” the ULSU president said.
This year’s nominated charities include St Gabriel’s School, Heart Children Ireland, the Order of Malta and Acquired Brain Injury Ireland. The students union also revealed that they’ve noted a higher uptake in terms of volunteering this year.
