Gardaí investigating alleged homophobic attack on students in Limerick City

David Raleigh

Gardaí are investigating an alleged homophobic attack on a group of students in Limerick city.

The assaults by a group of men allegedly occurred at Upper William Street, around 11.30pm last Wednesday, October 29th.

It’s alleged the men shouted homophobic slurs at a group of 11 third-level students, and when they were told to refrain from making the slurs, they allegedly attacked the student group.

It’s believed one of the students sustained neck and lip injuries, and others were left with bruises to their faces.

The alleged attack occurred two days after two drag queens were attacked in a separate assault in Cork City.

Verena Tarpey, chief executive of GOSHH, a voluntary group providing support to the LGBTI+ community, said it was offering support to some of the group who had presented at their services.

“They’re fairly shaken,” Ms Tarpey said.

“We all like to believe that we are very tolerant of others and that things like this don’t happen, but it does happen,” Ms Tarpey said.

Ms Tarpey said she was expecting to meet with gardaí over the coming days to discuss measures aimed at ensuring Limerick city was a “safe place for everybody”.

Gardaí said they “received a report of an incident of assault that is alleged to have occurred in the Upper William Street area of Limerick city on Wednesday, 29th October 2025 at approximately 11:30 pm”.

Gardaí said: “A woman in her 20s suffered non-life threatening injuries during the incident.”

“Investigations are ongoing,” Gardaí added.

A statement released by GOSHH said it was aware of a “serious incident” in which the student group were allegedly “verbally and physically attacked”.

“A number of men began to shout homophobic slurs at the group. The men then proceeded to kick and punch several members of this group,” GOSHH stated.

“Two of the victims have come forward to GOSHH and spoken about the attack. Both confirmed that they received injuries which required medical and hospital treatment.”

“Both are deeply shaken following the attack and GOSHH are working towards putting supports in place for them.”

The statement concludes with a comment from Ms Tarpey: “Homophobic harassment and violence against members of the LGBTQl+ community is a crime but still remains largely under reported. GOSHH utterly condemns this attack.”