Follow-up

Teenagers as young as 14 are engaging in sex affairs at one of the country's poshest discos, a Sunday World undercover opera­tion can reveal.

This week we expose the Wezz disco being run at Old Wesley Rugby Club in the heart of Dublin.

The alcohol-free disco is for 14- to 16-year-olds and is attended on a. weekly basis by some of the city's golden children.

Butbehind this facade of respectabil­ity we can reveal that drink-fuelled girls areeager to indulge in lewdbehaviourwithyoung teen boys.                          

One shocked parent told how she saw a 15-year-old girl and her equally young boyfriend crossing all the lines in a sexual behaviour as they waited at a bus stop after the Wezz disco.

The parent explained: " I had gone along to collect my daugh­ter when I saw this unpleasant scene. One girl and her boyfriend went over to the bus stop and while they were waiting for a bus, the girl was ready to perform a sex act on him in full view of other youngsters. ”

" I was so shocked I went around the block again because I didn't want my daughter to know what I had wit­nessed. "

We also lift the lid on the heavy pre-disco boozing that goes on around the streets of the suburb before these youngsters indulge in lewd acts inside.

Our reporter GemmaHarding (19) went under cover lastFriday night   to witness for herself the amazing night of debauchery at The Wezz. This is her report.

 THEY sport Christian Dior shoes with handbags to match. They spruce up with designer Mac make up. The bling of their Tiffany jew­ellery can be seen from a distance.

No. You're not in a scene from Sex and the City or at a cosmopolitan, star-studded event in New York city.

Welcome to The Wezz disco, in the Old Wesley rugby club in the prestigious Dublin 4 area in Donnybrook.

These teenyboppers -daughters to barristers, politicians, businessmen, accountants, top civil ser­vants, doctors, millionaires and the cream of Irish soci­ety - initially give no clue that they are on a drugs and sex orgy.

It was enough to shock me, a 19-year-old journalism student.

What I witnessed at a night out in the Wezz was a seedy world of disgrace, shame, arrogance and debauchery from the " little darlings" of upmarket South Dublin.

There was nothing posh about these drink-filled and sex-fuelled youngsters as their night descended into shame.

Many of them had left home as mod­els of respectability, clad in conserva­tive clothes to fool their gullible par­ents,      

But once out of their Mercs, Audis, BMWs and SUVs, they meet up with their pals and quickly change into skimpy, raunchy gear that leaves little to the imagination.

It is their prelude to an upcoming orgy of drink, drugs and underage sex.

Privileged!

The location, thename, the social class of people expected at the Wezz disco suggests civilisation and sophisti­cation. The venue is in the heart of the richest property belt in the city where even the most modest house is likely to sell for over? 1 million.

But the designer brands and the Dart accents clash with the shocking behav­iour of this young generation of so-called privileged people. And believe me, I was shocked and stunned by what I witnessed as the night went on.

The flyer advertising The Wezz por­trays a picture of a junior disco as a harmonious outlet for youngsters. A safe place, not somewhere that vul­nerable 14 and 15-year-olds are exposed to an environment where sex, drink and just about everything sordid is happening.

The advertisement for Wezz promises weekly giveaways of footballs, TVs and soft toys - innocent prizes that should raise the interests of its young clien­tele. But these youngsters have more adult themes on their minds.

It is just past 7pm on Friday evening in Donnybrook when the flashy cars begin to appear. The swish machines line the streets outside as mummies and daddies wave goodbye to their little angels.

As thecars drive away out of sight, the innocent masks come off only to reveal these angels are about to turn into little devils for the night as the sad reality of modern Dublin 4 teenage life hits home.

Gangs fromoutsidethe OldWesley Rugby Club as alcopops, cansof Bud - weiser andnaggins of vodka are freely passed around for allto see.

Teenyboppers gather in surrounding open areas, side alleys and even on the public street to consume alcohol. It is the beginning of the downward slide.

At the side of the premises before the disco even opens, we observed girls vomiting, some lying on the ground motionless. Hordes of wild teenage boys gulped cans of beer.

Although appearing to be seasoned drinkers, their antics were harmless by comparison to those of their female counterparts.

In hindsight, it seemed to me that the boys needed plenty of beer to give them the Dutch courage to be able handle (literally) - the seductive temptresses they faced when inside The Wezz.

I would later realise that the pre-Wezz drunken fest paved the way for the booze-fuelled groping and debauch­ery that went on inside the disco.

By now it was nearly 8pm and the hall was beginning to fill as many teens, wearing the scantiest of cloth­ing, staggered drunkenly to the entrance.

They openly laughed and joked in front of the security people, testing each other to see who could walk in a straight line. They were more con­cerned about who was drunkest than with dodging the security or covering up their mass consumption of alcohol.

Along with a female friend of the same age, I approached the entrance to the rugby club dressed in cropped jeans, a pink sleeveless t-shirt and a pair of silver sandals.                   

This was a typical outfit worn by a girl of 14, or so I thought, it would have been easier to gain entrance if I looked like a little, semi-naked slapper.

Mounds of make-up, fake tans, mini skirts, bikini tops, killer heels and as much exposure as possible was the order of the night for those around.

Security.

If you wore anything more than the bare necessities, you stuck out like a sore thumb.

The security seemed skeptical about let­ting my friend and I through. They ques­tioned our ages and sniggered, asking if we thought we were a little too old for the disco.

It seemed that decent clothing and the fact that we were sober had obvi­ously drawn attention to us and caused us to stand out. They advised us that the following night, Saturday, which catered for older teens might be more suitable for us. But, insisting we were 16, having just completed the Junior Cert we were told to take our places in the queue.

Disco

Hormone levels rose on the dance floor which led to the bumping of hips and bumps as Christina Aguilera’s Dirty echoed around the Wezz. Couples danced wildly. They moved rapidly, girls shaking their hair and hands in the air.

Legs wrapped around their boyfriends waists, they bopped to all their favourite songs. The girls’ shameless behaviour sparked the lack of respect shown by their male counterparts.

Brazen antics

Boys and girls were kissing and hugging and ready to perpetrate even disgusting acts in a public place. The few security guards supervising the junior disco remained unfazed even as these youngsters were doing whatever they wanted before their eyes. Nobody seemed to care. These scenes it seemed were all too familiar at the weekly Wezz disco.

As the night progressed, the party mood was dampened as fights broke out among several rowdy, drunken louts. Abusive language was hurtled back and forth in attempts to provoke confrontation.

At about 11. 30 pm we left the hall as the disco wound down. We made our way out the door along the pavement.

Sick

As we walked along the pavement, it was a totally different world from the one we witnessed earlier in the evening. The make-up was no longer in place, the fake tan was running. Three girls were sitting on steps. One of them was bent over being sick on the pavement. Teenagers staggered along the road, some crying their eyes out, others- vomiting on the street. It was a sorry sight.

Again the fleet of high-powered saloons began to appear. Mums and dads were back to collect their children. Some of them couldn’t spot their “kids” in the crowd of those who stumbled along the road being able to stand with the help of the wall only. When this leafy suburb finally cleared, it resembled the aftermath of a rock concert, not that of a school disco.

As the cars whisked the young dancers home, it seemed to me, that these children despite being born with silver spoons in their mouths, were missing the chance of having a real childhood or a proper transition from young teen to young adult. [27]

                                                   GUIDE

  WORD STUDY

1. Give the definitions of the following words.

posh                         gullible                         seedy

stumble                    to indulge                     debauchery

horde                        to spruce                       teenybopper

lewd                          bop

brazen                       boozing

2. Give the synonyms to the following words.

seedy              horde                        to indulge

lewd               stumble                     posh

3. Insert the pre- and postpositions.

1. Butbehind this facade … respectabil­ity we can reveal that drink-fuelled girls areeager to indulge … lewdbehaviour…young teen boys.

2. We also lift the lid … the heavy pre-disco boozing that goes … around the streets … the suburb before these youngsters indulge … lewd acts inside.

3. Many … them had left home as mod­els … respectability, clad … conserva­tive clothes to fool their gullible par­ents.

4. As thecars drive away out … sight, the innocent masks come … only to reveal these angels are about to turn … little devils … the night.    

5. They openly laughed and joked … front … the security people, testing each other to see who could walk … a straight line.  

6. Some of them couldn’t spot their “kids” … the crowd … those who stumbled along the road being able to stand … the help … the wall only.

4. Insert the words into the sentences.

1. Her parents are terribly ---.

2. Ray has enough money to ------- his taste for expensive wines.

3. Although his jokes were a little ----, he always made us laugh.

4. You've been out -------, haven't you?

5. Paul went upstairs to ----- up before dinner.

6. He accepted police escorts to whisk him past screaming -------- to court at Wimbledon.

7. We were staying in a ----- hotel in San Francisco.

8. He seemed to treat me as if I were a ----- schoolgirl.

9. There were ---- of people inside the station.

10. Kids ----- happily on the dance floor.

11. His wife could no longer tolerate his ----- love affairs.

12. He ----- upstairs and into bed.

Spruce, gullible, bopped, posh, stumbled, indulge, hordes, seedy, teenyboppers,

lewd, boozing, brazen.