Drunk, half-dressed and not even 16
By Teatime they were already lining up outside the city's discos, many of the young girls wearing teeter-totter boots and microskirts that barely skimmed their bums.
Mobile phones and bottles of spirits in hand, they were wound up to the point of hysteria, giggling and shrieking as they jigged and jostled outside the doors.
 Some straggled around in groups, openly tanking up on beer, vodka and alcopops before going into the alcohol-free Junior Cert celebration discos.
On MacCurtain Street, Cork City, a youth left a group of friends and launched himself at a bus, pummelling the window with a fury which somehow failed to shatter the pane. Shocked passengers looked on.
 On Patrick Street, Cork City, gangs of boys hurtled across the street, dodging traffic and shouting insults at each other.
It was still light when some, clearly the worse for wear, had to be supported by friends as they made their way towards the disco queues.
One girl leaned against a wall in Emmet Place, Cork City, her head back, her dress hiked up above her waist, so drunk as to be utterly oblivious to the goings-on.
Later, when the discos closed and crowds spilled back onto the streets, the atmosphere was sullen, aggressive and there was a palpable sense of menace which erupted into occasional brawls.
 The combination of drink and testosterone was clearly too much for some, leaving them balanced on a knife-edge between verbal aggression and violence - and, inevitably, in some cases the mix spilled over into trouble.
Up to 20 young women had to be separated from each other at one stage on Oliver Plunkett Street, Cork City, while fist fights also broke out on Patrick Street and outside City Hall. Some kids were arrested and taken to Anglesea Street Garda Station.
The issue of teenage drinking is a familiar one.
You'd want to have spent the last two years with your head in a cupboard not to know about it. But seeing it in action like this really brings it home.
Why so many of them think they have to get falling-down-drunk to have a good time beats me. The peer pressure must be tremendous.
 To be fair, not all the Junior Certs dressed provocatively or behaved like out-of-control kids with too much pocket money and everything to prove last Wednesday night.
But a good number did. Enough to make you wonder whether their parents knew what they were up to. Did parents actually see their daughters leaving the house dressed so skimpily, or know that their idea of a good night was to stand around the street swigging from bottles?
Did they know, when their sons said they were off out with their friends for the night to celebrate the exam results, that they'd end up barely able to stand?
How did it feel to be called into Anglesea Street Garda Station, to collect kids barely out of childhood who had been arrested for drink-related offences?
 You might ask what kind of parents they are. Probably much like you and me. Here's a thought. For those of you who have a kid heading towards Junior Cert level, it might be worth taking a trip into town about 10 pm next year on Junior Cert celebrations night. Just to have a look at the goings-on. It'd be an education.
Der Text wurde freundlicherweise vom »Evening Echo« zur Verfügung gestellt. Die Fotos entstanden am Samstag, 18. August 2004 zwischen 22:00 und 1:00 Uhr in der Innenstadt von Cork.
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