Concern is growing about late night street violence in Donegal town after a local man was brought to hospital with head injuries after he was attacked by members of a visiting stag party last weekend.
No charges were brought following the incident despite a special court hearing, with a judge in attendance, arranged on Sunday morning by local gardai.
The hearing was abandoned because of a direction by the DPP that three men be released without charge.
The arrested men were from Co Tyrone and it is believed locally that they are unlikely to be taken back to face any future charges.
A doctor who treated the 19year-old man last weekend said violent attacks were becoming "more frequent and more ferocious".
Dr Marie Drumgool told The Irish Times that doctors in the town who worked on call at the weekends were becoming "increasingly frustrated" as they were guaranteed to be called out every Friday and Saturday night.
The people they had to treat were often "abusive and uncooperative".
One publican in the town, Mr Jack McGroarty, who has imposed a partial ban on stag and hen parties, said the incident last weekend "broke the camel's back". "You should have seen the amount of blood on the street at the weekend. We are afraid that sooner or later someone is going to end up in a wooden box," he said.
He said publicans would now consider a total ban on stag parties or a security system where doormen could be in radio contact.
"We dread Friday and Saturday nights because we don't know what we are going to get. This is a lovely, busy tourist town but there are nights when I am afraid I will get a glass in my face," Mr McGroarty said.
He believed stag parties were the main problem. "It is sad that in a town like Donegal, with a population of 4,000 people, I have to keep a man on the door," he said.
Publicans like Mr McGroarty are concerned that if they employ security men, tourists will be turned off. But other people in the town blame some publicans for serving too much drink and accommodating stag parties.
Dr Drumgool said that local GPs had "seen countless incidents of excessive use of alcohol served by local establishments".
In last Saturday night's incident, a 19-year-old from the town was sitting in a fast food outlet when he was set upon. He was later transferred to Letterkenny General Hospital and was detained for two days. Two other local youths were also attacked. Dr Drumgool said it was "only luck that they didn't have serious head injuries because of the kicking they got".
After the initial assaults, further violence followed as other locals retaliated and assaulted members of the stag party. Dr Drumgool said the town was being "held to ransom by drunken youths at the weekends" and she said it was worrying that attacks were becoming more vicious.
"Previously it was just fists, but now they are using weapons and attacking in gangs," she said. It was not uncommon to see people who had been hit in the face with a bottle, she added.
Incidences such as last Saturday's are not unique to Donegal town. In Bundoran, where there are also a number of large late-night dance venues, there are regular street fights in the early hours.
Venues can attract crowds of more than 1,000 and they can legally serve alcohol until 2.30 a.m.
Mr McGroarty said he did not believe people from the North were more responsible for the trouble than anybody else.
Others often accuse Northerners of flouting the law in the Republic, knowing that they are unlikely to have to face its full rigours. An accused person would be refused bail only in very serious cases.
Mr McGroarty believes stag and hen parties cause the problems. He said the town attracted groups like this from many areas.
"The majority of the stag parties are from the North, but we also get them from Monaghan and Cavan, and it is the same thing," he said.
Dr Drumgool said the problem was young people drinking too much, regardless of where they came from, and it seemed to be getting worse. Their activities were putting "an enormous strain on the medical service".
Garda Supt John McFadden, responsible for the south Donegal area, said they were constantly monitoring the situation and he didn't believe Donegal was any different to other towns.
"There is a problem in all towns with discos," he said and added that extra gardai were in Donegal and Bundoran at the weekends.
He said the response he was getting indicated that the later hours introduced in new licensing laws were a factor. People were now on the streets until four or five a.m.
He added that an investigation was ongoing into the incident last Saturday night and a file would be forwarded to the DPP.
In relation to the men being released without charge, he said the Garda had to follow directions from the DPP.