REMARKS BY PRESIDENT MARY McALEESE AT THE Conference on Local Participation
REMARKS BY PRESIDENT MARY McALEESE AT THE Conference on Local Participation AND PARTNERSHIPS IN RESPONDING TO DRUG MISUSE
I am delighted to be with you today, and I would especially like to commend Ballymun Youth Action Project for inviting me to this important conference which deals with Promoting Local Participation and Partnerships in Responding to Drug Misuse – and which is part of its efforts to promote European Drug Prevention Week. Indeed, the Ballymun Youth Action Group has been very much to the fore in fostering and strengthening local community involvement in tackling the drugs problem – and has been doing so in partnership with the statutory, community and other voluntary agencies, not only in Ballymun, but right across the city. And Ballymun Youth Action Group, through its constituent organisation - URRUS - plays a very important role in assisting local communities in a number of Local Drugs Task Force areas to provide training for drug workers in the community generally - and in particular, to implement the action plans which were developed by the Task Forces.
The theme of European Drug Awareness Week in 1998 is Multidisciplinary Approach and Drug Prevention: Awareness Raising in Society and Partnerships. During the coming week, the fifteen Member States of the European Union will be involved in a range of activities designed to create a greater awareness of the dangers of drug misuse - giving advice to the public on where they can get further help and assistance if required.
As in previous years, Ireland is participating fully in these activities - and this conference, which is one of the most important and significant events of the week, is part of a comprehensive programme of initiatives being undertaken, nationally, regionally and locally – in which State agencies, such as the Health Boards and the Gardai, are involved in a series of events to highlight and raise public awareness of the drugs issue and its related problems. A very important feature of the week is the number of voluntary and community organisations who are also getting involved – and organising events ranging from major conferences, such as this, to local community-based activities. It is very encouraging to see the statutory and voluntary sectors working with the community - all participating in European Drug Prevention Week on a partnership basis.
Today's conference - on local participation and partnership in dealing with the drug problem - is about two principles which have been central to tackling not only the drug problem, but a whole range of economic and social issues, over the past number of years. Many local communities who are living from day to day with the effects of the problem – who are living with the misery, the suffering and the destruction of individual and family lives – who have to suffer the frustration of coping with children or siblings who have become addicted – who are left to pick up the pieces and have to try to reconstruct lives and families – these are the people who can offer significant insights on how best to deal with the menace of drugs in their communities. They have an important and crucial role to play in developing and working out solutions - and are perhaps best placed to work with the statutory authorities who have the responsibility and the expertise to respond in mechanisms to develop integrated solutions to the drug problem. The Local Drugs Task Forces, which were set up last year in Dublin and Cork, provide such a mechanism. Indeed I know that the Minister of State Chris Flood, who has special responsibility for co-ordinating the National Drugs Strategy, will speak in more detail about the Local Drugs Task Force approach when he addresses the Conference later.
Having travelled to every part of the country since coming into office - and having seen at first hand the benefits to be derived from a partnership approach to solving local problems – where communities have been transformed – where there is a new level of self-confidence within people and communities on which they are building success upon success - I can testify to the tremendous potential that there is in approaching the problems of drug abuse in an integrated way, that brings the community together with the relevant agencies and authorities. It is an approach which draws on its own success to reach out for bigger and better things – which enables communities to assert their own strengths and to use their own talents in a constructive and positive way.
The Ballymun Local Drugs Task Force is an encouraging example of how a partnership model, which is targeted and integrated in its focus, can turn the frustrations and anguish of a community which has been deeply affected by drugs, into a constructive and potent response to the scourge of heroin misuse. The Task Force is currently implementing a multi-faceted action plan that aims to tackle heroin abuse on a number of fronts – through education and prevention – trough treatment and rehabilitation - and through measures to reduce drug dealing in the area. The importance of drug education and awareness programmes cannot be overstated, particularly when they are delivered by or involve people from the local community, where they have an even greater resonance for the participants.
I would like to congratulate Ballymun Youth Action Project on its initiative in organising this conference which should prove stimulating and informative – and which will make a significant contribution to the task of raising awareness of the many problems associated with drug abuse. I sincerely hope that all of you attending and participating in the conference will find it rewarding and inspiring. I wish you well with your deliberations at the conference, and with your work.