Terence Flanagan (Dublin North East, Fine Gael)

I wish to share time with Deputy O'Mahony. I thank Deputy Shatter for tabling the amendment and I call on the Government to submit a comprehensive action plan within one month to deal with the many difficulties and challenges faced by young people. Society is awash with drugs and alcohol. The rate of suicide among young people, particularly teenage boys, is increasing. I demand young people receive education on alcohol, drugs, relationships and sexual health awareness. I call for widespread availability of sports facilities and youth clubs, as other speakers have outlined.

Young people from the age of ten years are using drink and drugs freely. The situation must be addressed urgently. Early intervention is needed to cover adolescence and early adulthood. I commend the work of the health promotion unit, which provides informative leaflets on alcohol, drugs, relationships and healthy eating. Schools can access the leaflets freely and they are useful for teenagers.

In secondary schools, students have access to one class of social, personal and health education. Topics such as alcohol, drugs and relationships should be addressed in this class but, in reality, not enough time is devoted to these subjects. Demand exists from disciplines such as career guidance. Career guidance teachers wish to use this time to advise students on future careers, which is also important. Teachers providing advice do not have the experience or the confidence to deliver information on these topics. An outside body could provide people to deliver these social, personal and health education classes, which are important for our young people.

Facilities for our young people are badly needed. In Dublin North-East, people are fighting an uphill battle for facilities and battling developers who look to take over every green space in the city. However, developers are not willing to provide facilities. We have a major problem with communities expanding where there is a great demand for youth facilities because of the number of young people.

Non-profit organisations are also working to serve our communities, although they are forced to pay huge rates to rent rooms in premises because the requisite facilities are not available to them. Community groups in Dublin North-East have contacted my office to inform me that they cannot afford to pay fees or rent and cannot find rooms big enough to serve the needs of their members. The sports and leisure centre in Portmarnock is in serious danger of closing if badly needed funding is not provided. I am campaigning for this funding to be provided because if the club closes, young people will suffer as a result of losing access to badly needed facilities. The latter would not be good for their future development.

Another organisation in Kilbarrack, which is located in my constituency, is campaigning to build a new community centre for the youth of the area. The proposed centre will include a youth café which will provide an urgently needed facility for young people. I commend the work carried out to date by the residents association in Kilbarrack and the Kilbarrack Coast Community Programme, KCCP, which provides assistance and courses for recovering drug addicts. I wish those involved well as they pursue their campaign for a new community centre.

Young people must be encouraged to reach their full potential. A comprehensive psychological service needs to be put in place in schools. I will only briefly mention the need for additional psychologists because this week's Private Members' motion tabled by Fine Gael relates to the inadequacies of the psychological service in secondary schools. If one examines the NEPS budget for next year, it is apparent that what is proposed represents a cut of 6%. That is not a welcome development. I spoke to many school principals and guidance counsellors in Dublin North-East who informed me that huge numbers of children were on waiting lists. The provision of two psychological assessments per year per school is not adequate. How many children has the Government failed?

There is an urgent need for a suicide prevention scheme because suicide rates are increasing on a daily basis. We must devote time to educating young people in schools in respect of this issue. In government my party would introduce a youth mental health initiative aimed at teachers and other adults who have frequent contact with young people; introduce a suicide prevention strategy, the fundamental aim of which would be to prevent suicide and self-harm and reduce the level of suicide in the general population; increase the budget to the National Office for Suicide Prevention to €10 million per year, which would rise to €20 million by year five; and provide a comprehensive package for all primary and secondary schools, which would include mental health programmes and comprehensive counselling services.

I am seeking the provision of further sports facilities and youth cafés in my constituency and throughout the country, as they are badly needed. Large-scale developments should not be allowed to proceed, unless proper facilities are put in place for young people. The latter must be looked after because they are the future of the country. Catering for their needs will reduce anti-social behaviour, a plague upon old and young people alike.

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