Police have praised teenagers who used social networking sites to alert them to a planned brawl in a County Meath village.

Gangs of youths took to Facebook and Twitter to plan their row in Duleek at the weekend.

Up to 75 teenagers got a rude awakening when they arrived in the village to find police waiting for them before any trouble could kick-off.

The authorities were on hand after youngsters alerted them to the plans made public on the social network sites.

“Their actions prevented what had the potential to be a serious incident,” Superintendent Jim Cannon from the Laytown station told the Irish Times.
 
The paper reports that a third of the teenagers were from Drogheda and had taken a bus to Duleek, five miles away.

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Sources believe they were to meet a group of teenagers from Duleek and there was to be a ‘confrontation’. 

Superintendent Cannon added: “Essentially the civic-mindedness and attention to what was happening in their locality prevented what might have been a serious incident. It certainly had the potential to be one.”

Local politician Dominic Hannigan, Labour deputy for Meath East, said the row had been ‘planned on Facebook’.

He said: “People need to be socially aware when using social network sites.

“Thankfully in this case that is what happened. There was no fight because civic-minded people who saw the notices on Facebook informed the police.”