Joe O'Reilly (Fine Gael)

I welcome the Minister of State to the House. This is an appropriate and worthwhile debate. The first thing we need to give our young people is the confidence to say "No". Therein lies the key. To give young people the confidence to say "No" is to engage in a holistic set of practices from the time children are born. I believe that a State system of preschool education, which may seem far removed from the issue, is an element of the solution to the extent that from early childhood the intervention in children's lives will make them confident and able to feel sufficiently good about themselves that they can say "No" in the crowd. Therein lies the key. The tragedy is the youngster who, because he or she does not have that self-belief and has not built-up and developed confidence and knowledge, is afraid to say "No" and is influenced by peers and goes with the flow. Those who lack confidence and self-belief suffer most in the long term.

Every imaginable strategy, and I do not need to list them all in such a learned assembly, such as preschool intervention and intervention right through the school system should be put in place. Between the Health Service Executive and various Departments youth cafés should be created in every town of reasonable size. I appreciate that some moves are afoot in this area but it needs national development, co-ordination and active promotion. There should be a youth café in every town of reasonable size, a drop-in centre with an infrastructure and facilities such as pool tables, the Internet, appropriate games, a seating area, coffee and soft drink facilities and so on, as well as the discreet presence of professional counsellors who could be accessed by the young people. The provision of such cafés is critical. There is also a compelling case for the provision of skate parks, of which there are none at present in my constituency, as well as running tracks and sports infrastructure. I was heartened to see my local authority recently appoint a sports officer, which is happening in many local authority areas.

The holistic approach to the development and creative support of young people unfortunately needs to be paralleled by active policing. I understand the Minister of State will be proactive in this regard. With his colleagues in Government, he should consider the policing issue. The Government stands condemned in that the drugs squad is not sufficiently large, an area which needs correction. For their small number, drugs squad officers are doing great work but we need a beefed-up drugs squad and increased numbers of young, plain-clothes gardaí going into clubs to maintain a police presence. The greater that presence, the better.

I agree with Senator Keaveney's suggestion that we should have clear labelling of drink to give people a responsible attitude to drinking. The Minister must seriously consider the issues of drinking in the home and binge drinking outside the traditional public house situation. Those of us who grew up in the era of the traditional public house and who are familiar with its way of operating know that a type of moral sanction operated owing to the presence of other people in a pub. There was a closing time and some sort of structure, and drink was relatively expensive, all of which provided some sort of control. Now, with below cost selling, youngsters are coming out of supermarkets with trays of cans and bottles of drink at a very cheap price. It is a serious issue.

I declare an interest in that I previously had an active involvement in the pub trade which I do not currently have in the sense of actively working in one. None the less, a local publican told me over Christmas that he could buy trays of drink cheaper in his local supermarket and make more by selling it in his pub. I see Senator Ellis concurs. That trolleys full of drink are being brought to house parties has serious implications. I ask the Minister to consider curbs in this area, perhaps with regard to the times at which one could not purchase drink in supermarkets, such as during peak weekend times. While the issue of age is being considered, availability is another issue and there is a case for having shuttered areas of off licences so the shutters could be pulled down at certain times. The ease, attractiveness and simplicity of purchasing drink as well as its cheap cost are issues to be considered.

Drink advertising is a vexed question. Although I am no expert, I feel we would be better not having such advertising. I do not know the degree to which this would help but it should be considered.

The drug culture that has developed is a tragedy and one of the major issues in contemporary society. Despite addressing all of the issues with regard to personal development, policing, youth cafés, labelling and the availability of drink, none of us likes to get into the question of the decline of traditional religion and morality and the rise of a kind of epicureanism, hedonism or a belief in or need for pleasure as a substitute for core beliefs. This is not something that can be addressed at a political level but the lack of spirituality is a problem. While it is not our brief to deal with this problem, it is at the core of these difficulties.

This is a complex and serious issue. I am aware of the points made in the debate and there is no logic in repeating them other than to give my personal view. In summary, we need investment in youth cafés and sports infrastructure and an emphasis on the pastoral care of youngsters. We must address the issue of labelling, advertising and the availability of drink as well as the upgrading of the drugs squad in terms of numbers and resources. We need plain-clothes police at all public functions that young people attend. It is sad to say it, but it is a necessity and the good that will accrue from this will far outweigh any costs.