Mark Daly (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I realise the Minister could not be here and I appreciate the Minister of State coming in on her behalf. The Minister of State outlined the issues around the funding and purpose of the Ballymun Regional Youth Resource and the Poppintree Youth Project. However, we were talking about restoring funding to 2008 levels, whereas the Minister of State referred to the funding available in 2011, which was a time of many cuts. That is just one element of what is required across Departments and Government. This needs to be targeted towards Ballymun in conjunction with Dublin City Council, which should meet public representatives on the ground.

We cannot simply leave it to the Ballymun Regional Youth Resource to tackle a crack cocaine crisis in Ballymun. It is not within the organisation's gift to tackle all of the areas that need to be addressed, such as aggressive begging and anti-social behaviour. I can only deal with the youth who come before it. The Garda, social services and the local community need to be involved and that needs co-ordination by the Government and Dublin City Council. I call on the Taoiseach to meet Councillor Paul McAuliffe and other public representatives on the ground in Ballymun to ensure a response is provided for the benefit of the area's residents. They feel threatened by the anti-social behaviour taking place. Ballymun should be used as a template for other communities in Dublin and beyond which are blighted by drug use and the current crack cocaine epidemic.