A proposal by the NUI, Galway Students’ Union to erect a marquee in Dangan in which to host the 2010 Rag Week celebrations has been rejected by the university authorities.
It is understood that the SU proposed erecting a 5,000 capacity marquee on the university grounds in Dangan in order to confine Rag Week to just one location.
However residents associations in Bushypark, Dangan, and Newcastle objected, fearing that once the marquee closed for the night, student revellers would simply spill out into the estates and cause mayhem.
According to Fine Gael councillor Pádraig Conneely, residents told him they have “suffered considerable levels of abuse and disgusting behaviour” from numbers of students drinking or attending parties in the area.
“Residents have told me that students have damaged cars and been banging on doors at all hours of the night looking for parties,” he said, “ and they feel that the university should take action to curb his behaviour and that organising alcohol fuelled events is wrong.”
NUIG president James Browne has now informed Cllr Conneely that the university will not be making the lands at Dangan available for the 2010 Rag Week
