Tommy Broughan (Dublin North East, Labour) | Oireachtas source

There is a long history of community-based drug and alcohol abuse prevention and education initiatives in Howth, Sutton and Baldoyle, as well as across the whole of the old Dublin North-East constituency. We have had a number of outstanding initiatives in this regard, including the rehabilitation and support project, RASP, in Darndale-Belcamp; the Kilbarrack Coast community programme in Kilbarrack-Foxfield; and the Howth peninsula drugs awareness group, HPDAG, which was led for many years with great diligence by Captain Brian Doyle of Howth. In 2012, funding ceased for the HPDAG, which had operated for almost a decade. There is now clearly a strong need for a new education and prevention project to address the gap left by the ending of the earlier drug prevention programme. In addition, the €110,000 in funding allocated to the south-east Fingal catchment area as part of the HPDAG programme remains unused. Howth Sutton Community Council is the umbrella group for up to 40 affiliated organisations in the Howth peninsula area. The chairman, Mr. Charles Sargent, and his colleagues, Mr. Raymond Sexton and Mr. Niall Watters, recently briefed public representatives about a proposal they have submitted to the Department of Health and the local Dublin north east drugs task force, which advocates a south-east Fingal drugs and alcohol project. Their aim is to establish, under the community council, a community-based drugs and alcohol abuse prevention and education programme for the four parishes.

Howth Sutton Community Council, through the work of lead researcher Mr. Watters, has provided a detailed and extensive submission which identifies a clear need in the areas referred to for a prevention and information programme tailored to drug and alcohol problems. Mr. Watters notes that there was a 4% increase in the population of the Howth, Sutton and Baldoyle electoral area between the 2006 census and the 2011 census, with a 19% increase in the Baldoyle area because of the expansion of the north fringe. There are worrying statistics provided in the Watters report on alcohol and drug prevalence in the north-east region, which underlines the need to provide the programme I advocate today.

The most recent 2010 and 2011 National Advisory Committee on Drugs survey on drug use in Ireland reported that in the north Dublin region, 35% of all respondents aged between 15 and 64 reported taking illegal drugs. In ongoing national surveys, the figure for lifetime use of illegal drugs is generally higher in the north Dublin region than nationally and, significantly, alcohol is also being used by 80% to 90% of the people across the 15 to 64 age group. Research undertaken by the Health Research Board indicates that in 2010, 33 people were referred for problem alcohol and drug use in the Howth, Sutton and Baldoyle catchment area.

Howth Sutton Community Council has identified a series of service needs in the region, where there is currently a significant gap. These include a structured education and prevention programme, aimed in particular at high-risk young people; enhanced family support services; a concentration on supply control, especially through enhanced co-operation between the local community and the Garda; and anti-addiction, rehabilitation and support measures, including counselling and training. The proposal sets out clear principles of strict governance under the community council and Companies Acts with a projected budget of €80,000. It would be based alongside the youth project in the Baldoyle area. This is a vital project that will provide critical drug and alcohol education and prevention programmes at minimal cost to the State. It is also important for the Howth-Sutton peninsula that funding is provided for this key service.

The Minister of State may remember that in the 1980s and 1990s, part of the vulnerability of Howth, Sutton and neighbouring parishes was our strong maritime connection. At the time there were allegations that part of the problem of supply was the issue of maritime vigilance and surveillance, and over recent decades monitoring has been much more successful. There is a particular historical vulnerability in the region in question so I urge the Minister of State to fund and support the proposal by Howth Sutton Community Council.

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