THE PRESIDENT OF the Union of Students in Ireland has called on the students who destroyed an apartment in San Francisco to compensate the landlady.

Laura Harmon said the USI “doesn’t feel that the behaviour by those students was in any way representative of the wider student body”.

Harmon told TheJournal.ie she was “as shocked as anybody else to hear the news”, which went viral following a segment on CBS.

She added that she “would be very saddened if [the incident] had an impact on other students who wished to travel abroad and get a J1 to broaden their horizons”.

There are thousands of Irish students who go abroad every year and have a very positive experience.

Earlier today, Foreign Affairs Minister Charlie Flanagan tweeted that Philip Grant, the Irish Consul-General in San Francisco, was providing assistance to the landlady, Ritu Vohra.

Harmon welcomed this news but added the “onus” to compensate Vohra still lay with the individuals involved.

“It’s great that the Consul has gotten involved and we’re glad to hear that the property owner is getting assistance,” Harmon stated.

Last week, Vohra described the extensive damage to her home – which amounted to thousands of dollars – as “mini terrorism”.

Read: Irish students who left destroyed apartment are shamed by the news in San Francisco