Halloween horrors in Slieve Blooms where fireworks and exhausts shatter the peace
Local people say the Slieve Bloom mountains are 'being destroyed'
Life for locals is being shattered at weekends by rowdy groups of young people in cars with loud exhausts with residents in the Slieve Bloom mountains are fearful the situation is escalating beyond control.
Local people in the Laois Offaly mountains said Halloween bank holiday weekend was particularly bad, with dozens of loud cars driving at excessive speeds on the mountain roads gathered in Glendine for illegal fireworks.
A local farmer, whose sheep were startled by the fireworks and fled their compound after breaking a fence in panic, said the rubbish left behind at weekends is excessive and that burned out vehicles and incidents of illegal fly-tipping are becoming more common.
However, it is the loud exhausts and dangerous driving which have locals most concerned, the farmer said and explained the groups usually congregate at the look-out point at Glendine.
The rubbish left behind from Halloween fireworks is strewn all across Glendine - Pic: D. Keegan
Rubbish in the Glendine carpark - Pic: D. Keegan
"The Guards do come up and try to deal with it - but they need to put in something to take up some space in the Glendine carpark so they can't do their stunts there", the farmer said.
Laois Offaly Gardaí have been called to the mountains on many occasions.