Revved-up "boy racers" are putting lives at risk by meeting for "Fast and Furious-style" street races.
That's the view of a road safety officer in Mayo, who said meet-ups are getting "more frequent and larger".
Mayo County Council has reported up to 20 cars and more than 100 people attending gatherings late at night.
And Noel Gibbons warned that donuts and other illegal moves can wear down tyres and lead to crashes.
"They have really come to the fore in recent months during lockdown," Mr Gibbins, the council's road safety officer, told Newstalk Breakfast.
"Unfortunately, they're getting more frequent and larger.
"The side effect is that residents are being disturbed late at night with noise and the danger is meeting these cars on the road where they're leaving donuts."
Mr Gibbons added: "We understand that young people have has a very challenging time in the past year with COVID, they haven't been able to socialise and unfortunately this is one of the areas they have been using to socialise.
"But unfortunately it's not the safest area to be meeting but we're encouraging these people if they have an interest in cars to get involved with motor clubs so they can go to a controlled, safe environment where they can drive their cars, just not on the public roads."
Mr Gibbons said he fears "it will only be a matter of time until someone is seriously injured or killed so that's why we want to prevent that".
"People are driving to these meet-ups, they're doing donuts and then they're driving home with very dangerous tyres," he said.
"They can blow out which will cause injury to themselves and to other road users.
"They're a huge road safety risk here, and it's not just about prosecution, we want to educate these people."
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