‘There is a touch of Cinderella and the ball about it’

It was a case of third time not so lucky for the class of 2021 from Abbey Community College in Boyle, Co Roscommon.

After two earlier failed attempts they agreed to press ahead and have their debs on Thursday night, only to learn that a new midnight closing time for hospitality venues had been extended to hotels and would cut their night short.

“It was billed as 6-6, from 6pm-6am,” said Keisha Flynn, a member of the debs committee who had the task of informing her former classmates that the fun would not go on until dawn.

To make matters worse, the young men and women who did their Leaving Cert in Boyle last June, were facing a five-hour round trip to their chosen venue, the Carnegie Court Hotel in Swords, Co Dublin.

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“We were hoping for a bit of normality at last,” said Flynn, who added that opportunities to socialise with former classmates had been limited over the past year. “But there’s not much we can do now except enjoy the night.”

As they posed for photographs at King House in Boyle, already in their finery by lunchtime, many were philosophical, if a bit bewildered at the rules.

“There is a touch of Cinderella and the ball about it,” said Shane Carr (19), another of the organising committee, who pointed out that the class had been forced to change the date twice previously.

Arrangements

Covid-19 restrictions forced them to cancel a planned July outing. Having initially rescheduled to October 15th, they had a rethink when they realised nightclubs were set to reopen and a longer night could be on the cards if they waited.

“It was very up in the air until this morning,” said Carr, a global commerce student at NUI Galway. “It’s annoying but people are just happy that it is going ahead.”

Many of those rushing for the debs bus, which was leaving Boyle 1½ hours earlier than originally planned, wondered about the logic of being allowed to travel together, but not to stay out once the clocks struck midnight.

Oisín Cregg, now a student at UCD, said it was “not ideal” but the former classmates were determined to make the most of it given the pandemic had limited their opportunities to see each other.

Stephen O’Connor, a computer science student at NUI Galway, agreed. “It is out of our hands now. We could be in lockdown again in two weeks so we will enjoy it,” he said.