St Patrick's Day student drinking in Dunedin 'worse than New Year's Eve', police say 16 Mar, 2021 10:56 PM 2 minutes to read RNZ Dunedin police officers are monitoring the city's student quarter in large numbers as St Patrick's Day has become an event rivalling New Year's Eve in terms of intoxication. Senior Sergeant Craig Dinnissen said the annual Irish celebration has become a siren song for drunkenness in the southern city. "As far as drunkenness goes it's probably worse than New Year's Eve. It's just a binge drink day - and it's started already. It started at 8am this morning; people were already dressed in green, drinking, walking down the street."