Out on the town on a Saturday night - scary or just good fun?

Rodney Edwards • Published 17 Sep 2010 09:00 0 Comments

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THEY say that staying in is the new going out.

But try telling that to the dozens of young people who take to the pubs each Saturday night, hell-bent on having a good time and posting the evidence on Facebook the next day!

Some are out to simply socialise with friends, others are more eager on drinking their own body weight in cheap booze and a relatively small number of people use it as an opportunity to engage with their fists instead of their brains as they approach the wee small hours.

But clearly it’s a subject that divides opinion. Are young people drinking too much? Or is there just a negative perception -- a sort of middle-class prejudice, if you like -- that they are? The Impartial Reporter took to the streets on Saturday night to gauge opinion on the big and occasionally bad world of drinking in Enniskillen.

24-year-old Jacinta says she is concerned that more and more young people, particularly girls, are brawling on the streets at night. “There are too many youngsters about and it’s a real problem. What do I see on a Saturday night? Oh, just girls hanging off guys and throwing up and fighting on the street. I go out to see my friends but the others seem determined to make fools of themselves and it’s very worrying,” she said.

Sinead, who lives in town centre, agrees there’s an “anti-social problem” but says she feels secure when out at night: “As for the dangers, no, I don’t worry. We all hang around together so it’s fine. You are aware of the dangers but we stay together and make sure we get home. I don’t live too far away from the pubs which makes getting home that bit easier.”

Eilish believes publicans need to “work harder” at deterring underage drinkers: “I think more and more places in Enniskillen need to ID people at the door. I’m seeing 15, 16-year-olds mucking around at night. They need to wise up but the pubs need to do their bit too,” she said.

One girl added: “It’s scary at night in Enniskillen, especially around the Diamond area and all the little boy racers that fly past in their cars. You always see a fight on the Diamond actually. The young boys seem to always get started on. We see fights all the time. We always try to make sure we have a lift home planned. We make sure to get picked up at about two in the morning,” she said.

Another candidly admitted: “The drinking scene is mad craic. I go to Pat’s then Blakes then the Fort Lodge and then home. I go to them because they’re nuts. I drink plenty of vodka to have a good time!” she laughed.

A 51-year-old woman added: “There are far too many young people out drinking. To see young girls lying there, not fit to move, with hardly anything on is not right. They should realise they’re drinking too much and it’s not healthy.”

Sisters, Lisa, Charlene and Emma Shannon believe “peer pressure” has resulted in more and more “vulnerable” girls taking to the pubs at the weekend.

Lisa believes it’s “not good” for young people, especially girls: “You’d see a lot of that in the early hours of the morning. It’s worrying. It’s not good to be in a vulnerable state. Young people are just out to have a mad night. But you don’t need all that alcohol to have a bit of fun; I think it’s all down to peer pressure,” she said.

Charlene says a common sight at night is spotting young girls wandering about on their own or falling over: “You’d see them waiting for lifts, being sick or lying on the ground on their own after their friends have left them. You just want to comfort them because they have nobody around them.”

Emma recalled spotting a girl on her own in a “very bad” state one night: “I went over to comfort her and it turned out she was in a very bad way. She didn’t know where she was or what she was doing. There are too many young people out before their time.”

Another student added: “I’m back from University in Belfast and there’s a real difference in going out in Enniskillen. It’s more expensive here, yes, but on the plus side, there’s more of a community feel here than in the big smoke. Here you know more people, you know the area and you do have a good night’s craic and that’s what it’s all about.”

Last week the British Red Cross launched a campaign to improve life-saving skills of young people.

One in ten (11 per cent) of 11-16 year olds in Northern Ireland has been in an emergency situation as a result of a friend drinking too much alcohol, according to a new study showing the vulnerability of young teens.

The findings from the British Red Cross reveal that in the past 12 months close to one in ten (14,860) of 11-16 year olds in Northern Ireland have been left to cope with a drunken friend who was sick, injured or unconscious. Half (53 per cent) of these had to deal with someone who had passed out and one in three (37 per cent) had to deal with an injured friend who had been drunk and in a fight.

But it’s not just alcohol-related injuries which young people have to cope with either. Close to nine in ten (87 per cent) of 11-16 year olds in this country have found themselves having to cope in a crisis, with one in four having to cope with someone having an asthma attack, one in four having to deal with a head injury, one in five having to help someone choking and one in ten having to cope with someone having an epileptic fit.

This article appeared in Impartial Reporter 16 Sep 10

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