By DERMOT KEYS

A lecturer at NUI Galway has revealed that up to up to one third of the students attending her classes come in with hangovers and expressed the belief that alcohol has become a serious problem in our colleges.

The issue of alcohol abuse among the city’s third level students came under scrutiny earlier this year as the drunken antics of local students during RAG week attracted national coverage.

Morwena Denis, who works at NUI Galway, revealed on Wednesday’s Liveline radio show on RTE that up to third of students in her lecture hall on a Monday morning would be suffering from a hangover.

She revealed that students in her class turn up “bleary-eyed” and said that the problem is becoming increasingly worse.

Ms Denis pointed out that many young people are coming from a drinking culture that associates alcohol with excessive consumption.

“I think it is part of the culture that they don’t understand that you can drink and have fun and that you don’t need to get drunk.”

Asked to guess how many students would be suffering from the after effects of alcohol on a typical Monday morning, the French lecturer estimated that it would be one third of the students would have a hangover.

She believes that many students now associate college with excess as opposed to academic achievement.

“To my mind there seems to be a general attitude that you are in college, you are a student, and that you are there to have a good time.”

For more on this story, see the Galway City Tribune.