Cyprian Brady (Dublin Central, Fianna Fail)

I welcome the opportunity to contribute to the debate on this important issue. I have worked for the past 20 years with young people in Dublin Central and have seen massive changes over those two decades. I was reared in the north inner city. In the 1980s, areas like Sheriff Street, the North Strand and East Wall had high unemployment and suffered badly from the scourge of heroin addiction. Successive Governments had neglected education in these areas, there was a significant deficit in housing and facilities were bottom of the agenda.

Since then much has been done to help young people stay away from drugs and alcohol and to rehabilitate those who are already addicts. We now have better treatment facilities, education, policing and communities, and families and young people have a better understanding of the problems. Our ability to think outside the box and bring together communities, gardaí, public representatives, treatment centres, health services and education has contributed to helping thousands of young people over the years to stay away from crime and substance abuse. If anybody is in doubt about the importance of this approach in reducing crime and drug problems, I would be delighted to bring him or her to visit areas in Dublin Central where a united and co-ordinated effort has made significant difference. Everybody in the community, including schools and colleges, has played a part in helping thousands of young people to turn their backs on crime and drugs and look forward to a bright future.

The way we have met these challenges has changed and we have seen new facilities, methods and skills introduced into disadvantaged areas. A few young people still slip through the net and we must concentrate on helping them. There are programmes in place, such as the youth diversion programme, which have proved successful. I have first-hand experience of clubs and organisations involved in this area. A club for youth service has become a national service, which is popular and effective and offers young people a focal point and meeting place for them to meet and chill out in an environment free from alcohol and drugs. Projects like that have been set up all over the country.

The key to the success of most of these projects is that young people were asked what they wanted and are central to the running of the clubs and organisation. The Base Youth Club in Ballyfermot, which is to open shortly, is another example of such clubs. These clubs help young people to develop. I urge Departments and local authorities to continue to support such initiatives. If these initiatives are to be successful, the agencies involved must be as flexible as the clubs. They must adopt the holistic approach of the clubs and support funding, rather than pigeonhole access to grants and other forms of funding in an old-fashioned way.

The most important factor for success is that the authorities should consult young people and encourage them to take ownership of projects. There is a prime example of this approach in Dáil na nÓg, where young people from all over the country get together on a regular basis and discuss issues of concern to them. We need to put a value on preventing young people from getting involved in drugs and crime and turn that into tangible support.

We must also invest in the thousands of other young people who have no contact with crime or alcohol and drug abuse. I am very concerned by some comments I hear that all young people take alcohol or drugs and are ruining their lives. That is not true. My experience is that the majority of young people work hard to make something of themselves, get a career and improve their lives. Some of these toffee-nosed know-all commentators should stand outside schools and colleges in June and see the quality of the thousands of young people sitting junior and leaving certificate examinations.

Education has always been essential to ensuring that our young people can work in our technology companies, the financial services sector, the service industry and the Civil Service, and it has contributed to the economic boom Ireland has enjoyed in recent years. The Government is committed to continuing to invest in our training and education programmes to ensure our young people have the knowledge and skills to meet our economic needs. For the past ten years Ireland has benefited greatly from our investment in young people. I urge the Minister to continue to invest in this area in future years.

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