Parents and teachers may worry and fret, but their charges just want to have fun on a no-big-deal night with friends

You couldn't help but notice her. Slim with streaked blond hair brushing her bare, bronzed shoulders, she cut an exotic figure waiting to cross the busy rush-hour road on a chilly autumn morning. Citybound students, shoppers and workers gaped at her from the bus, admiring her sleek black dress and her tanned bare legs and sandalled feet.

She stared into the traffic with the dazed, puffy-eyed look of someone who had been up all night. As the bus moved off, people turned their heads to look at her, wondering about her partner's whereabouts.

Nowadays bleary-eyed youngsters wandering around in full evening dress up till lunch time are a familiar sight in Ireland's towns and cities at this time of year. It's a sure sign that the debs' season is upon us. By now debs dances are firmly embedded in the fabric of Irish life. Along with baptism, first Communion and Confirmation, they have become something of a rite of passage for Irish youngsters.

However, despite the fact that these dances mark the end of school life for most youngsters and take place once sixth year is complete, most schools no longer take responsibility for them. Nowadays the events are more likely to be organised either by the students themselves or by parents' committees.

In the Eighties, debs' dances became synonymous in many people's minds with excess, drunkenness and rowdy behaviour. Youngsters demanded to be allowed to stay out later and later. Instead of returning home primly by midnight or thereabouts, they pushed the occasions to the limits, voted with their feet and started staying out all night.

They became more and more demanding about what they wanted. Dinner and a dance band were no longer enough. You had to follow it up with a disco or a visit to a night club and then breakfast in Bewleys or in Jurys' Coffee Dock - if you were a Dubliner that is.

Schools threw up their hands in horror and opted out. Many of them said that if students wanted to organise their own debs' night that was fine, but they were absolutely forbidden to use the name of the school.

Parents may be critical of schools which refuse to be involved in debs' dances, but schools have a point. "The school ended up in a supervisory capacity and that's not our function," explains Mary Mullarkay, principal of Castlerea Community School, Co Roscommon. It's one thing supervising your own students, she says, but it's an entirely different matter supervising their escorts. "Sometimes the partners were much older - men in their twenties - and we had no jurisdiction over them."

Many schools, too, felt guilty about being involved in what had become and extremely expensive occasion. `We used to organise the debs' but we decided to give it up because the staff weren't happy about the amount of money involved," says Aidan Savage, principal of Killinarden Community School, Tallaght, Dublin.

It's not unusual to spend £500 on a debs night - particularly if you have a daughter, he calculates. "It's an extravagant abuse of money and puts huge pressure on parents. I believe they could have a far better night at much less expense. The whole thing has gone overboard, but that's what the youngsters want."

At Killinarden, the debs' night has been run by a parents' committee in recent years. This takes a lot of pressure off final-year students who are working for their Leaving Cert. The involvement of parents adds to the community spirit in the school, Savage adds.

Ideally, the school, parents and students should be involved in organising debs' nights, argues Elizabeth Quinn, co-ordinator of the National Association for Parent Support. "Parents are a bit overwhelmed by the debs'," she says. "They cringe at the costs involved and at the fuss that's made, but at the same time they're proud of their children and want them to enjoy the night."

They do worry though. "Parents don't sleep at all that night," she says. "They worry about safety, about drink and about drugs." The first debs' in a family can be traumatic, she says. "This year two parents rang us because their children hadn't returned home by ten in the morning."

Despite the fact that debs' nights have never been more expensive, the costs have become far less of an issue in recent years than they were in the past, according to Quinn. Many students now have part-time jobs and they're willing to save all year for the night. In addition they run fund-raisers during the year - pre-debs' nights are popular with many students.

John White, PRO of the National Parents Council - Post-Primary, has noticed a great change in debs' nights in recent years. Youngsters are far less likely to get drunk now than in the past, he says.

"They're much more sober than they used to be - partly because, thanks to Transition Year, they're all a year older, but also they start socialising earlier and are better able to handle drink." Interestingly, White notes that Alcopops are rarely consumed on debs' nights - "they don't drink them because they think Alcopops are for kids."

Jean Geoghegan, principal of Christ King School, Cork, feels that it's an important night for young people. "They're mature enough to realise that they'll ruin it for themselves if they drink to much," she says, noting that it's now Junior Cert students who have the problem with drink.

The debutant group too - particularly the girls - are less fazed about the affair than they were in the past and the night has fewer romantic connotations now. "They are far less agonised about relationships than we were," says Geoghegan. "The girls get up dance with each other and don't wait to be asked. They're determined to enjoy themselves." In fact, many youngsters take the opportunity to socialise with their classmates for one last time and partners are often neglected.

Because debs' nights are held after the Leaving Cert - sometimes in the summer but more often in the autumn - many educators believe that, contrary to popular opinion, they do not distract from school life. However, excitement can reach fever pitch. Some families approach the debs' as they would a wedding.

"The build up to debs can be huge," says Anne Rafferty, guidance counsellor at St Dominic's High School, Sutton, Co Dublin. "The danger is that they could end up being disappointed. It's important that students put the event in perspective and remain realistic."

One Dublin mother is delighted that she agreed to allow her daughter to accept a debs' invitation this year, her Leaving Cert year, and believes that her daughter will take a more sensible view of her own debs' as a result. "Some of my friends were critical because she had to take a day off school," this mother says. "We kept it low key because it wasn't her debs', but she bought a nice black dress. She knew girls who would be wearing dresses that cost several hundred pounds, but once she got there she realised that it didn't matter what she wore. Next year she knows that she won't have to spend a fortune on her dress in order to enjoy herself."

In Dublin there's been a move away from city-centre hotels to hostelries in the suburbs offering all-in deals. For example, the Court Hotel, Killiney, (popularly known as the Killiney Court) offers packages which include five-course dinner, a live band until 2 a.m. and a disco until 5.45 a.m. - and that's followed by a full Irish breakfast. They do, however, insist that groups are accompanied by some parents and teachers.