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Irish Times
05-07-2025
- Irish Times
Leaving Cert holidays: Sun, street fights and big spending on Zante's party strip
Two recent former pupils from a South Dublin all-boys school race out of a strip club in Laganas, having stolen a passing glance inside. There are 'weird sex games' where participants are encouraged to eat chocolate off men and fruit off women, one of the pair says. The other says that they thought it was 'a normal club' before going inside. It is Wednesday night on the main party strip on Zakynthos, the Greek island better known as Zante, where the two teenagers mix with scores of other Irish students on holidays to mark the end of Leaving Certificate exams. During the day, Zakynthos is the picture-perfect Greek island, with azure water, beaches worthy of the film Mamma Mia! and scorching sun. At night, the temperature mellows to around 26 degrees, but the atmosphere is febrile, full of sweat, shisha vapour and the smell of cheap drink. 'I think there will be a fair few people who will try to cook themselves with alcohol,' says Samuel Dalston (19) from Tipperary who did his Leaving Cert as a boarder in Clongowes Wood College in Clane, Co Kildare, and hopes to study medicine in September. READ MORE Sitting on a stool on the rooftop Irish bar O'Callaghan's Loft, he eyes the private medical clinics dotted along the party street. There are concerns about profiteering or the risk of visitors being left with inflated medical bills for emergencies. Dalston shares this worry about scams, but also see the benefit of such clinics, saying without them 'we'd have a few dead bodies across the street'. The mayor of Zakynthos, Georgios Stasinopoulos, tells The Irish Times the clinics 'are there to make people feel safer'. He says: 'The amount of private clinics is very good for the tourists because it's very quick. You don't wait in the hospital for many hours – you know how hospitals are, everywhere you go.' Holidaymakers queue to enter The Loft, an Irish bar on the busy Laganas strip in Zakynthos. Photograph: Niamh Browne The Laganas strip is designed to contain partying to one section of the island – and Leaving Cert students are here in their droves. Covid shaped a lot of developmental milestones for this cohort. There were no teen discos, no stolen kisses at Irish college. There were two years without school plays or outings. The class of 2025 is now making up for it. Caoilfhionn Roche (18), from Rathfarnham, Dublin, who went to Loreto High School Beaufort, says 'some people would take advantage of the freedom here. There's free rein here'. Caoilfhionn Roche: 'We've been told to buy stuff that's bottled, that you see them opening in front of you.' Photograph: Niamh Browne However, the biggest danger she perceives is the spiking of drinks with drugs. 'There's certain places we have been told not to go to because the drinks get spiked a lot, even by bartenders, which is really scary. We've been told to buy stuff that's bottled, that you see them opening in front of you and that kind of thing,' says Roche, who has a college course on radiography or speech and language therapy in her sights for September. Stasinopoulos encourages caution when it comes to the promise of free alcohol. 'They sell tickets for €10 and you drink all the night. For €10, you can only drink water'. The mayor's interpreter adds: 'Don't mix the bars as well. In case something happens, you know which bar you were in.' Former Clongowes student Ryan Schacht, from Monkstown, Co Dublin, who is aiming to study theoretical physics at Trinity College Dublin next year, says: 'I saw a guy punch a girl in the face yesterday. That was pretty brutal.' Otherwise the safety of the strip was similar to Dublin 'with a few more fights'. Ruairí Hegarty (18), who is hoping to attend the TU Dublin conservatoire for performing arts in September, says: 'I'd say it's because you have mostly 18-year-olds who are unsupervised abroad with unlimited alcohol. That's probably the only reason that you would see more violence.' He says the Leaving Cert holiday is 'making up for lost time post-pandemic'. Friends Ruairí Hegarty, Ryan Schacht and Daniel Cremin, all former students of Clongowes Wood College. Photograph: Niamh Browne Students are alert to the risk of financial 'scams'. Oisín Lambe, a former Clongowes boarder from Drogheda, Co Louth, was shocked to find air-conditioning being charged on a daily basis after already forking out €600 for flights and accommodation. 'The hotel charges extra for air conditioning. It's a fiver a day. For seven days that's €35 for the week.' One of the friends says: 'But you have to pay it.' With daily temperatures in Zante reaching the mid-30s, it seems the only option is to pay. Zakynthos mayor Georgios Stasinopoulos urges caution when it comes to promises of free drink. Photograph: Niamh Browne The costs surrounding Leaving Cert holidays are significant – and that's before budgeting in the so-called 'pink tax' for girls who are under pressure to conform. A group of young women who studied at the Dublin Academy of Education say there is an expectation that they look a certain way in time for the holiday and this requires spending a good deal of money. 'The way you'd start the conversations in the library would be kind of sad. Like you're looking forward to this holiday, but thinking, 'Oh my body blah blah',' one former student says. 'It was kind of concerning that everyone was nervous about what they would look like.' Another girl says: 'Yeah, you are spending a grand on flights and accommodation, but on top of that you are spending a grand to get prepped.' The Laganas tourist strip is packed with bars and clubs. Photograph: Niamh Browne Along the heaving Laganas strip, vape shops, sex shops, pharmacies and even supermarkets can be found openly selling cannabis and cannabis-related products. Medical cannabis is the only form of the drug legal in Greece and you need a valid prescription from an approved doctor to obtain the drug. However, the cannabis products sold across Zante purport to contain low levels of THC, which is considered to be the main psychoactive ingredient found in cannabis. One vendor selling cannabis products is pharmacist Constantine Grigoropoulos. 'At the moment, the legal amount of THC in a product is 0.02 per cent up to 0.03 per cent; 99 per cent of the product is CBD [which does not cause a psychoactive high]. That's all that's allowed to be sold in the shops,' he says. As a pharmacist, Grigoropoulos can dispense medical marijuana, which contains THC, and the CBD products. 'I get people in from England and Ireland saying, 'Oh, you have real THC, bro', but, no, there's none of that. There are a lot of cannabis companies in Greece, but we only sell what is legal.' Fifty metres down the road is DownTown Laganas Tobacconist Weed & Sex Shop, whose staff purport to sell 'real' products containing higher levels of THC. Products can be purchased here which provide no more detailed information on the contents other than 'legal product, THC <0.3%'. Legal 'weed' products available to buy along the strip in Zante. Photograph: Niamh Browne However, according to University College Cork lecturer in organic and pharmaceutical chemistry Dr JJ Keating: 'There is no way of knowing based solely on the information provided on the packet and on what you may have been told it contains.' For general information on safety and support, he recommends trusted resources such as the HSE booklet, Cannabis and You . In Zante, Dr Elena Andritsou is tired and weary. It's 10.40am in the midst of a challenging party season. Her clinic is in the middle of the strip. For her, the 5am patients are the scariest. 'I had a Norwegian patient a couple of days ago. He arrived in here really upset. Someone had drugged him, injected him. We don't really know with what. He was really scared. He was only 17,' she says. Dr Elena Andritsou, whose practice is on the Laganas strip, is seeing more patients suffering the after-effects of drugs. Photograph: Niamh Browne The drugs situation is worsening, Dr Andritsou says. 'I was here in 2013. You could see a lot of drunk people. But people who used drugs? One every 10 nights, not every night.' Asked what kind of drugs patients are taking, she says: 'Street drugs.' 'It is impossible to say, it was this, it was that. It's street drugs. It's mixing. It's ridiculous. There are so many side affects. Especially from people who are sniffing 'cocaine',' she says, making air quotes with her fingers. 'It's so little the amount of cocaine that it doesn't even show up on the test.' Most of the consultations at Dr Andritsou's practice, however, are not related to drink or drugs, but are for problems such as 'ear infections, eye infections'. She cautions against the water parks, crowded swimming pools and ones in night clubs. 'There are too many people in the swimming pools for them to be cleaned properly,' she says. 'You can get ear infections, sinus infections, urine infections, skin infections.' Aside from the infections that can be picked up, other reactions can occur because 'they always put in a little more chemicals because it's too busy and they think that's right'. This can result in 'chlorine damage on the cornea'. Zante's beaches as well as the island's nightlife are lures for tourists. Photograph: Niamh Browne What of the parents 3,000km away worrying about their teenage children? Not surprisingly, perhaps, they are checking in regularly. 'I got a notification from Family 360 [tracking app] saying that it had been checked 150 times in the last three days,' says Sophia Kelly (18) from South Dublin, who is hoping to study medicine. Some parents are even resorting to following their children out to the party locations and staying within 'emergency distance'. One mother, who is flying to Santa Ponsa in Mallorca, Spain, said: 'We are very aware of the tragedies that have occurred over the last number of years and believe that it is important to be able to support if something terrible or tragic occurs.' She departed for Spain this week, a day before her daughter set off with her friends. 'This is our second year going on the Leaving Cert holiday as we went with our son last year. Last year we stayed approximately 30 minutes away while this year we will be 1.5 hours away, as our Leaving Cert student this year is less of a risk,' said the mother, who wanted to remain anonymous for fear of 'embarrassing her daughter'. In terms of financial outlay, she says: 'The Leaving Cert holiday is costing us €1,500 and we are expecting the usual Revolut requests to start by Tuesday. The beauty prep and wardrobe for girls is bonkers.' 'They deserve to have a holiday. They deserve freedoms': Students let their hair down on the Laganas strip. Photograph: Niamh Browne She says she advises her daughter to 'stay out of the sun and do not come home with green highlights because I am not paying for the repairs'. While the extra beauty costs are substantial, she does not consider the additional cost of flying out to be close to her daughter to be extravagant. 'We are going for a week and would be taking holidays anyway, so the cost isn't a concern.' Another mother who has also flown to southern Europe to be within emergency phone call distance has done so because her daughter has an severe allergy. 'If anything happened, it wouldn't be fair to expect the other girls to look after her if she is at the hospital and that sort of thing.' Parents have to let go some time, however, and the students in Zante who spoke to The Irish Times were keen to emphasise they were behaving responsibly and looking out for one another. Asked what she would tell parents who were nervous about their Leaving Cert teenager travelling, Amy Allan (18), from Rathfarnham, who attended Loreto Beaufort, said: 'Trust them. Relax. They deserve to have a holiday. They deserve freedom.'
BreakingNews.ie
16-06-2025
- BreakingNews.ie
10-year anniversary of Irish students killed in Berkeley balcony collapse
A memorial plaque with the words, 'They lived and laughed and loved and left,' marks the site close to where six Irish students lost their lives 10 years ago today in Berkeley, California. All but one of those who died were J-1 students in the US working for the summer in 2015 and they were Lorcán Miller, Eimear Walsh, Niccolai Schuster, Eoghan Culligan, and cousins Olivia Burke and Ashley Donohoe who was Irish American. Advertisement All who died in the collapse were aged 20 and 23. Aoife Beary, 27, who survived the Berkeley balcony collapse tragedy which claimed the lives of her six friends in the US passed away on New Year's Day, 2022 at Beaumont Hospital after suffering a stroke. She became the seventh victim to die as a result of injuries suffered in the Library Gardens Balcony Collapse. Ms Beary and six other students suffered life-changing injuries as a result of the incident which occurred while they were celebrating Ms Beary's 21st birthday on the balcony as they lined up to give her kisses. Advertisement Clodagh Cogley, Sean Fahey, Conor Flynn, Jack Halpin, Niall Murray and Hannah Waters were all injured - some seriously in the balcony collapse. Despite her multiple injuries, Ms Beary campaigned alongside Amanda Donhoe's family to force building companies to release public safety records and report any work-related crimes or settlements to California's building regulator. Ireland Tánaiste says 'world on brink of extraordinary des... Read More She testified before the California state legislature in 2016 saying: 'Now my birthday will always be their anniversary,' she said. At an emotional hearing in August 2016, Ms Beary told US politicians that,'Some of my injuries will be with me for the rest of my life'. The US district attorney's office confirmed in 2016 that no criminal charges would be brought over the balcony collapse. However, the families affected sued those involved in the construction and management of the building. They reached a partial settlement of €18 million in 2017.
Irish Times
28-05-2025
- Politics
- Irish Times
Most Irish J1 students unaffected by US move to halt interviews for visas
Most Irish students who have applied for J1 visas to work in the United States this summer will be unaffected by the US government's suspension of visa interviews for foreign students, according to travel experts. Embassies and consulates have been ordered to stop scheduling new appointments for student and exchange visitor visa applicants as the US State Department prepares to expand social media vetting of foreign students. Travel firms who help to administer J1 visas for Irish students said the vast majority of students have had their applications processed, while those with scheduled interviews at the US embassy are exempt from the pause. About 5,000 Irish students are expected to travel on J1 visas this summer, a similar number to last year. READ MORE A cable from the US State Department to embassies – reported by Reuters – states that it is 'conducting a review of existing operations and processes for screening and vetting of student and exchange visitor (F, M, J) visa applicants, and, based on that review, plans to issue guidance on expanded social media vetting for all such applicants'. Michael Doorley, owner of SayIt Travel, who has been organising J1 visa applications for more than 20 years, said the vast majority of summer workers can breathe a sigh of relief. 'J1 students are pretty much done and dusted by this stage,' said. 'If you're on the record as having applied – our understanding is that applicants with existing interview appointments should still be able to attend those.' Sheelagh Daly, director of sales for the Council on International Educational Exchange, agreed that only a very small number of J1 students who have not yet applied may be affected. 'It is an evolving situation. We expect to get update guidance [on student visa applications] over the coming days, so we'll be monitoring that closely, but we're confident that almost all J1 students are on track.' [ Irish students' J1 plans in the Trump era: 'We said we wouldn't go ahead. It just isn't safe' Opens in new window ] Aontas na Mac Léinn in Éirinn (AMLÉ), the national representative body for students, acknowledged 'growing concerns around political expression, social media monitoring, and student safety'. It called on both US and Irish authorities to provide 'clear, consistent information to protect students' rights and ensure their safety while abroad'. Chris Clifford, AMLÉ's president, said Irish students should not be discouraged from pursuing cultural exchange programmes. 'Those who have already applied can proceed with confidence. For those intending to apply, we recommend acting quickly and maintaining contact with your provider. AMLÉ will continue to support and advocate for all students involved in the J1 programme,' he said. Last March, consular officers were first told to scrutinise the social media content of some applicants for student and other types of visas. That directive said that officers need to refer certain student and exchange visitor visa applicants to the 'fraud prevention unit' for a 'mandatory social media check'. [ Irish J1 visa students urged to be informed of potential risks of 'activism' in US Opens in new window ] In recent months, US president Donald Trump 's administration has spoken about cancelling student visas, revoking green cards and scrutinising the social media history of foreign visitors, mainly in the context of outrage around Israel's war in Gaza. Mr Doorley of SayIt Travel said it has advised J1 students to be 'careful' about their use of social media. Despite the political atmosphere in the US, he said demand was as strong as ever for J1 visas. 'It's still a rite of passage for students,' he said. 'We filled our quota and still had a waiting list of about 150 students.'
Irish Times
21-05-2025
- Politics
- Irish Times
Demand for J1 visas to work in US remains high despite concerns about Trump border controls
Demand for J1 visas this summer remains high among Irish students, according to travel providers, despite concerns over border controls and access to jobs under the Trump administration's new hardline immigration policies. In April, the Union of Students in Ireland (USI) urged caution for those who would be travelling to the US on J1 visas this summer. Following the US administration's decision last month to begin screening the social media accounts of immigrants, visa applicants and foreign students for what it has called 'anti-Semitic activity', the union said it was important that those travelling 'fully understand' the possible consequences for their visa status, including the risk of deportation. USI president Chris Clifford said students have 'safety concerns' about the current situation in the US. READ MORE 'There's always concern but it has increased significantly this year. There has been more [concern] this year, more conversations around it, with the student unions and USI ... they [students] have concerns about arriving, having their phone searched, being detained or being deported,' he said. Ellen Clusker, a final-year UCD English and history student from Dublin, will travel to Maine in three weeks where she has secured work at a summer camp. 'I never debated not going but I have worries,' said Ms Clusker, who has been hearing recently how people 'going over are having their phone searched'. 'It's quite invasive but I'm not sure how true those concerns are ... I only have Instagram and it's private. Some friends have deleted Twitter [X] or some tweets that they are worried about, but I personally won't be. 'Even some friends are saying: 'Oh have you seen this?' and I'm like: 'Stop panicking me,'' she said. While her father has been 'encouraging', Ms Clusker says her mother is worried about her upcoming travel plans – 'she keeps sending me news articles.' Other students chose not to give their real names, feeling it may jeopardise any future plans to visit the US. One such student from Munster Technological University in Cork, Sarah* (21), and two friends have decided to forgo their J1 plans this summer amid growing safety concerns. 'We all started the application process and we all paid just under €1,000, but with everything that happened with tariffs, seeing stories of ICE [the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement] taking people into custody and also people being denied entry, it made us a bit nervous," she said. 'So we said we wouldn't go ahead with it. It's a real shame and we're all really disappointed but it just isn't safe.' For Sarah, the decision is 'about freedom of speech ... we wouldn't want to go and feel like we couldn't post something on our Instagram story that wouldn't align with Trump's ideals'. 'If that was taken and used against me and there was a mark on my record that I was denied entry or if I was deported, that would ruin any chance of going to the States again.' Laura*, a second-year Irish and translation student from University of Galway, is getting ready to travel to Ohio this week where she will work as a camp instructor for three months. This will be Laura's first visit to the States – 'I have always wanted to go to America' – and she is feeling uneasy after reading recent news stories and USI's statement last month. 'By the time that came out, I felt I was already too far in with the application process. I do worry, hearing all the stories of protests being shut down in the US.' Laura has been involved in student activism but doesn't 'plan on doing that in the States because it's too risky'. Offering advice to those who may be feeling concerned in advance of travelling to the US, Clifford said students should 'proceed with caution' when it comes to what they post online. 'The digital footprint goes a long way,' he said. 'Keep communicating with your family, tell them where you are and what you are doing, that's big ... Keep informed and most importantly prioritise the safety of you and your friends if you are travelling together.' Work-abroad organisation Usit said there were just over 5,500 J1 visas issued last year, with numbers for 2025 expected to be similar. Although figures have not yet been released for this year, Sheelagh Daly, director of sales in Ireland with the Council on International Educational Exchange said it had not seen any decline in demand for this summer's working visas. Figures provided by the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs at the US Department of State, which oversees the J1 programme, show 3,722 students travelled from Ireland to the US in 2024. Similar uptake was seen in 2023, when 3,673 travelled, and 2022 when 3,660 participants were recorded. These figures represent the amount of BridgeUSA J1 Summer Work and Travel programme participants, not including participants in the US Summer Camp or Internship programmes.
