Students living in Kavanagh Court have criticised the accommodation’s response to recent disturbances, including fireworks being “aimed” at flats and damage to property.
They said disturbances from the nearby Diamond Park, which was opened this summer and is not owned by Kavanagh Court or its parent company Yugo, have resulted in fireworks landing in the accommodation and damage to property.
“It’s a constant thing,” said resident Adam McGrath. “At first… it was funny to me, just because it was ridiculous, [but] we’re at the point now where they keep going and going.”
One resident said they reported “fireworks shot at [the residents], bamboo spears making their way into the apartment through an open window, and stones, rocks, and wood planks which were used to shatter two of our four kitchen windows” to Kavanagh Court in an email.
In their email response seen by Trinity News, Kavanagh Court said that “[they were] made aware of some further breakage of the glass by an attender of a party [the residents] hosted”.
Multiple eyewitnesses said the damage was not caused by any guests or residents, and the resident also said the windows in that flat remained broken for over 30 days. Students also criticised Yugo’s focus on a drawing done on a cupboard in the flat rather than the damage to the windows.
In the email seen by Trinity News, Yugo said that they had looked into getting new glass, then added: “In the meantime, I also need to talk to you guys about the graffiti on your cupboards… as you should already know, we will be inspecting kitchens over the coming weeks, and as it stands your kitchen will not pass inspection.”
Another resident reported to Yugo in September that a firecracker was thrown through their window by “a bunch of boys”, which “exploded in [their living room]”.
“I’m lucky there was no bodily harm done to myself or my apartment didn’t catch on fire,” they said. “When I brought my concern to Yugo and told them what happened, they were more concerned about the state of the apartment than with the state of my safety and well being.”
Students have also reported seeing fireworks landing in a small courtyard next to the park and exploding. This courtyard is located beside a popular study space.
“It’s not just a disruption, it’s genuinely scary,” one resident told Trinity News. “Noise disturbance can be expected from a park,” another resident tells Trinity News. “But this is just too much.”
In an email seen by Trinity News, Yugo contacted residents on September 21 advising students to contact Dublin City Council: “As I’m sure many of you on the south facing side of the building are aware, there has been an issue of noise late at night coming from the newly opened and rather lovely Diamond Park”.
“Please report any and all instances where you are disturbed by activities in the park outside of its designated opening hours. Hopefully a high volume of reports will spur some action! We are of course making our own efforts at management level, but it is always good to join our voices together!”
The resident who complained to Yugo said this email felt “unreasonable” for many students: “The city really isn’t going to do anything about it”.
“The city does nothing about it, the Garda when you call them do not show up and Yugo has not done anything that is of help to students.”
A Kavanagh Court employee told Trinity News they make complaints to Gardaí and report to the “related government departments” “every week”.
“From our side we do everything but we personally cannot go out and confront the kids,” they said. “We do everything we can legally”.
Resident Lindsey Brown said her and her flatmates “call the Gardaí almost every night” due to fireworks and other disruptions, and other residents have Gardaí typically have a response time of “up to half an hour”.
Additional reporting by Ellen Kennm
