So-called boy racers continue to tear up the Kilkenny roads in spite of the best efforts of gardaí and the local authorities, according to a local councillor.
Fianna Faíl councillor Andrew McGuinness hit out once again at young drivers racing along the city's Ring Road late at night after an apparent meeting of boy racers last Friday night.
Cllr McGuinness said residents of a city estate were forced to call the gardaí on Friday night after 'hundreds of boy racers' from all over the south-east swamped the city.
And he called for a multi-agency approach to combat the issue and said that the local authorities and the owners of properties where these people were gathering needed to take more responsibility.
A spokesperson for Kilkenny gardaí confirmed they had received a call from a resident in Parc na Gowan regarding boy racers on Friday night but suggested the issue had been blown out of proportion.
The spokesperson said the gardaí were well equipped to deal with the issue and that if they came across any incidents they would enforce the appropriate road traffic laws.
"If we get a complaint we will certainly follow it up and pursue it within the law," the spokesperson said.
Cllr McGuinness, however, said residents had heard modified cars roaring across the Ring Road and screeching through city estates into the early hours of Saturday morning, terrifying them in their own homes.
"On Friday night the boy racers started to gather at Woodies' car park at nine o'clock. They began their performance in front of a big crowd of onlookers as soon as the shops closed," he said.
"The gardaí were notified by a resident of Parc na Gowan who could see everything from his home.
"They arrived a few minutes later and cleared the car park. However, the racers were back again much later, only this time it was up and down the main road between the two roundabouts."
Cllr McGuinness said there was only so much the gardaí could do to tackle the problem and called on the local authorities as well as insurance companies and property owners to join forces to make the roads safer at night.
"Owners of private property where these cars gather, like Woodies' car park, need to take some responsibility for this problem. Their property is being used for anti-social behaviour and it needs to stop before somebody gets hurt or worse."
Cllr McGuinness insisted that a multi-agency approach needed to be taken in order to consider the best way to stop such meetings and to ensure the safety of people driving at night.
The issue of boy racers in the city has been a regular gripe at council meetings, with councillors left exasperated by the seeming lack of a solution.
