Boards Ireland

Boards Ireland - Blogs http://www.boardsie.com/forum/blog.php en Thu, 28 Aug 2008 17:56:00 GMT vBulletin 60 http://www.boardsie.com/forum/images/timerun/misc/rss.jpg Boards Ireland - Blogs http://www.boardsie.com/forum/blog.php <![CDATA[HSE Officials Ordered Into Children's Court]]> http://www.boardsie.com/forum/blog.php?b=210 Fri, 22 Aug 2008 11:10:17 GMT *“Absolute Disgrace” of Imprisoned, Suicidal, ADHD - 16 Year Old Boy Refused Psychiatric Services by the State HSE Officials Ordered to Appear... “Absolute Disgrace” of Imprisoned, Suicidal, ADHD -
16 Year Old Boy Refused Psychiatric Services by the State
HSE Officials Ordered to Appear before Children’s Court

By J. P. Anderson

HEALTH SERVICE Executive (HSE) representatives have been directed to appear in the Children’s Court after a judge heard that psychiatric services are refusing to assess a 16-year-old boy in custody who has a history of self-harm and attempted suicide.
The Dublin teenager has been in custody in St Patrick’s Institution for more than a month after breaching bail conditions relating to charges of criminal damage and public order.
The court heard that the boy, who has been diagnosed with ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder) and has an IQ level equivalent to a person with learning disabilities, has attempted to harm himself and take his own life on numerous occasions. Judge Elizabeth MacGrath yesterday directed that a representative of the HSE attend a hearing of the case next week in order to resolve the issue.
“If a representative is not here, a witness summons will be issued,” Judge MacGrath said.
She directed that the boy remain in St Patrick’s Institution on bail, despite the protests of his mother that he be released into her care. At a previous sitting of the court, Judge Clare Leonard said a psychiatric assessment needed to be completed before deciding what court the case should be heard in.
Yesterday, the boy’s solicitor Sarah Molloy told Judge MacGrath that community-based psychiatric services in Castleknock were refusing to complete the boy’s assessment because he was in St Patrick’s Institution.
“It is unacceptable that a juvenile is in the custody of the State – yet the State is unwilling to assess him,” Ms Molloy said.
“The HSE in Castleknock have an onus and a responsibility to assess him. He was an existing patient of theirs before this.” Ms Molloy said the HSE had originally told her that assessments for minors were a matter for the Central Mental Hospital in Dundrum. However, on checking this, she was told by the hospital’s clinical director that it did not deal with minors.
“I am told that the psychiatric services are refusing to assess him because he is not in a therapeutic environment. I said we were not looking for an assessment, not therapy.” Ms Molloy said. “There is nothing stopping them going into the prison, it appears they just don’t want to.”
After handing in a letter from the HSE on the matter, Judge MacGrath agreed to adjourn the case for a week.
“That’s a disgrace – an absolute disgrace,” the boy’s mother shouted from the back of Court 55 of the Children’s Court.
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:( ]]> J. P. Dublin http://www.boardsie.com/forum/blog.php?b=210 Funeral Of Ronnie Drew In Greystones County Wicklow http://www.boardsie.com/forum/blog.php?b=209 Mon, 18 Aug 2008 11:33:42 GMT *Funeral of Ronnie Drew in Co Wicklow* By J. P. Anderson The funeral of singer and entertainer Ronnie Drew will take place in Greystones, Co...

Funeral of Ronnie Drew in Co Wicklow
By J. P. Anderson

The funeral of singer and entertainer Ronnie Drew will take place in Greystones, Co Wicklow tomorrow.
Requiem Mass will be held at the Church of the Holy Rosary with burial afterwards in Redford Cemetery, Greystones.
The singer died at the weekend after a long illness.
He is survived by his two children, Phelim and Cliodhna, and five grandchildren.
Phelim Drew said his father passed away peacefully in St Vincent's Private Hospital in Dublin on Saturday afternoon at age 73.
Mr Drew founded the then Ronnie Drew Group in 1962 which later came to be known as The Dubliners.
The group included fellow Irish music legends Luke Kelly, Ciarán Bourke and Barney McKenna.
While Mr Kelly was known for singing their soulful ballads, Mr Drew will be best remembered for his gravelly-voiced renditions of rabble-rousing folk songs like Finnegan's Wake and Dicey Reilly.
Ronnie Drew sang one of the band's biggest commercial hits when they entered the UK top 10 in 1967 with 'Seven Drunken Nights' and appeared on the BBC's Top of the Pops.
In 1995 they appeared once again on the show with Shane McGowan and The Pogues who performed with Mr Drew on their single 'The Irish Rover'.
Born in Dún Laoghaire in 1934, Mr Drew underwent six months' treatment for throat cancer two years ago.
Deirdre, his wife of more than 40 years, died last year. The couple lived in Greystones.
Only his family would have known how much Ronnie Drew depended on and drew strength from his wife. Her loss was devastating
As a man who appreciated poetry, Ronnie Drew would probably have seen something of himself in this doggerel: "Between the optimist and the pessimist, the difference is droll; the optimist sees the doughnut, the pessimist the hole."
And when you consider some of what he had to live up to, it is easier to understand his downbeat realism.
For some 50 years he was the living embodiment of what the world, and many provincial Irish people, believed was a typical Dubliner.
According to legend, an archetypal Dub is a droll raconteur and a rapier wit, as the circumstances require.
It was bizarre stereotyping for Ronnie Drew (or anyone) to measure up to -- and a burden that he carried stoically, if not always silently.
Yes, he was one of the balladeers who borrowed the name from the title of James Joyce's book, and in that sense he was a volunteer Dubliner.
He also had a distinctive beard that made him immediately recognisable and a unique voice that confirmed his identity for those who couldn't believe their eyes.
For many he was heir to another bearded and gravel-voiced Dubliner, the late Noel Purcell. And both of them could have been role models for the kindly Captain Birds Eye, who persuades children to eat fish fingers.
People who saw him on television or heard him on the radio assumed they knew Ronnie Drew, and the less inhibited sometimes presumed an intimacy that was offensively intrusive.
Yet even when a show-off bore descended on him, Ronnie persevered: he may not have grinned and cackled to order but he was always a gentleman, even when he told them to F*** off.
He was something of a curmudgeon, a personality trait necessary for his survival and which reflected part of his world view. But he had scintillating flashes of rapier wit and droll anecdotage that more than compensated for the occasional negativity.
When The Dubliners had an unlikely top 10 hit in Britain with 'Seven Drunken Nights', I was a teenage entrepreneur promoting shows in Belfast.
Although they were on BBC's 'Top Of The Pops', the band was broke and I approached Ronnie and offered him £400 for a guest spot. He immediately agreed. I put ads in the newspapers, the show sold out, and Ronnie and I became firm friends.
He spoke almost reverently about his wife, Deirdre McCartan, a sophisticated and wise woman, who kept him focused when the distractions of drink and hedonism beckoned.
Touring was more fun in the stories told afterwards than during the exhausting one-nighters around England, Germany or wherever. When I met him, Ronnie would sometimes put his head in his hands and sigh deeply in despair.
Although he was an integral part of The Dubliners, and very much the iconic face by which the public identified the group, Ronnie always saw himself as an individual artist.
He also saw The Dubliners as a repertory company at times; with personnel changes leaving it open for him to dip in and out to follow his ambitions.
Determined to spend more time with his family, Ronnie left and Jim McCann joined The Dubliners, but after he broke a hip in an accident Ronnie rejoined.
Luke Kelly made a solo record of the Ray Davis song 'Thank You For The Days' produced by my friend, the late Donall Corvin, and Ronnie was keen to record a contemporary song.
Ronnie Drew had also read books that many of his contemporaries kept peeping out of their jacket pockets for effect. And like so many of his generation, who saw the deprivations of Dublin in the 1940s and 1950s, he had a fear of poverty.
Through his career in The Dubliners, Ronnie Drew saw too much of ill health and premature death: Ciaran Bourke had a brain haemorrhage in 1974 and Luke Kelly died of a brain haemorrhage in 1984.
Two years ago, Ronnie was diagnosed with throat cancer and, while he was receiving chemotherapy with the consequent loss of hair and beard, his wife, Deirdre, told him she had cancer too. She died six weeks later.
Only his family would have known how much
Taoiseach Brian Cowen said Ronnie Drew had been an iconic figure in Irish music over the past five decades. "Ronnie, whether as part of The Dubliners or during his solo career, will also be remembered for his promotion of Irish music both at home and around the world. He bore his illness with bravery and will be sadly missed."
Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny said it was no exaggeration to say that Ronnie Drew was a legend -- and his sad passing would be felt at home and abroad.
"His contribution to Irish music and Irish life was immeasurable and his influence will be felt for many, many years to come," he said.
Labour's Mary Upton said Ronnie and The Dubliners played a huge role in the restoration of interest in Irish songs and music.
"We have now lost three members of the original Dubliners -- Ronnie Drew, Luke Kelly and Ciaran Bourke -- but their music will retain a special place in the affections of the Irish people."
*See full text at this link:
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:( ]]> J. P. Dublin http://www.boardsie.com/forum/blog.php?b=209 Separate Services For Omagh Bombing Anniversary http://www.boardsie.com/forum/blog.php?b=208 Fri, 15 Aug 2008 06:51:01 GMT *Separate Services For Omagh Anniversary *By J. P. Anderson There are to be two separate services in Omagh this weekend on the tenth anniversary... Separate Services For
Omagh Anniversary

By J. P. Anderson

There are to be two separate services in Omagh this weekend on the tenth anniversary of the bomb attack in which 29 people including a woman expecting twins died.
Relatives of some of the victims have organised their own tribute on Sunday and will not be at the civic service on Friday, but local clergy say they will now attend both.
A number of the Omagh relatives including Michael Gallagher, whose son Aiden was killed in the bomb, are unhappy with the council's handling of the creation of new memorials in the town.
There was contention over retaining the wording of a previous memorial stating that the victims were 'murdered by a dissident republican terrorist car bomb'.
This has now been inscribed on part of the new memorial following the recommendation of an independent team.
But the delay and public wrangling has annoyed Mr Gallagher and some other relatives.
They will not be present at Friday's civic ceremony when a new memorial and garden will be opened on the tenth anniversary of the attack.
Former Lebanon hostage Terry Waite will also give an address.
Meanwhile clergy from the town's main churches have agreed they will now attend both the council-organised service and the one on Sunday run by the Omagh support group.
Church leaders initially rejected an invitation from the victims' families who are organising it.
They had originally stated that they would only be attending a service organised by Omagh District Council on Friday, the date of the Real IRA bomb.
The family-run Omagh Support and Self Help group, which is organising the Sunday event, had heavily criticised the clergy for turning down its invite.
Representatives from the town's Presbyterian, Methodist, Church of Ireland and Catholic churches changed their stance after meeting last night to discuss the issue.
In lieu of the four clergymen, the support group had asked a British Army padre based at Ballykinlar, Co Down and an Omagh-born Catholic priest who now ministers in Wales to officiate at their service on Sunday.
The town's church leaders will now join them at the ceremony.
The families of some Omagh bomb victims have decided not to attend a ceremony next week to mark the 10th anniversary of the atrocity.
Many relatives of those who died in the 1998 attack are angry at the way Omagh District Council has organised the official anniversary event planned for next week.
They are also unhappy at how the council handled the contentious issue of the wording for new memorials erected at the bomb site on the town's Market Street and at a nearby garden of remembrance.
It is understood the families of at least ten of the 29 victims of the bombing will not attend the service next Friday.
Instead the relatives, the majority of whom belong to the Omagh Support and Self Help Group, are holding their own memorial event on Sunday.
Kevin Skelton, who lost his wife Philomena, said he would have no part of the council event.
'There's a whole range of issues I've got problems with,' he said.
'The whole wording issue and some of the politicians that are going to be there - I think they have (the council) have made a real mess of it altogether.
'They certainly didn't consult with us about the event.'
Members of the support group had demanded the retention of a phrase engraved on an original tribute stone, which has since been removed from the garden of remembrance, stating that the victims were 'murdered by a dissident republican terrorist car bomb.'
The council appointed an independent fact-finding team to try and resolve the issue and councillors unanimously accepted its recommendation to use the phrase on the walls of the garden of remembrance, but not on the glass obelisk at the bomb site.
Sinn Féin councillor and chairperson of Omagh council Martin McColgan said it was a pity some families had decided not to attend.
However, he defended the council's approach to the memorial issue. 'I would love to see everyone there on Friday,' Mr McColgan said.
'As a council we have tried to do our best to mark the anniversary.'
'I realise it's a sensitive time and different people will react differently.
'But I can't legislate for how some families are going to react, that is their prerogative.'
Ten years on from the bomb, those responsible have not been caught, with police on both sides of the border having been heavily criticised for their handling of the investigation.
Also:
A NOTORIOUS ETA terrorist who murdered 25 people in the 1980s has flown to Ireland after being released from a Spanish prison.
Jose Ignacio de Juana Chaos (below) jetted to Dublin on a Ryanair flight on August 3, the day after he was freed having served 21 years in jail. He has remained in Dublin since.
De Juana is expected to attend events organised by Sinn Fein, according to Spanish media reports.
De Juana was jailed for 3,000 years for 25 murders in 11 separate terrorist attacks.
Under Spain's penal code the maximum time he could have served was 30 years.
Two years ago, during one of de Juana's three hunger strikes while in prison, Sinn Fein appealed to the Spanish government for his "immediate release".
Last week, hundreds of his victims' relatives staged a protest in the Madrid square where he killed 12 Civil Guard officers in in 1986.
His release has been greeted with outrage across Spain -- fuelled by the fact that he will live on the same road in San Sebastian as the widows of three victims of ETA attacks.
Yesterday Sinn Fein said it had no comment to make.
http://uk.360.yahoo.com/greagues2 ]]> J. P. Dublin http://www.boardsie.com/forum/blog.php?b=208 Waterfor Teenager Shot In Bitter Feud http://www.boardsie.com/forum/blog.php?b=207 Fri, 15 Aug 2008 04:53:58 GMT *Waterford Teenager Shot In Bitter Feud *By J. P. Anderson A 14-year-old boy in Waterford has been involved in a shooting incident. Gardai say... Waterford Teenager Shot In Bitter Feud

By J. P. Anderson

A 14-year-old boy in Waterford has been involved in a shooting incident.
Gardai say they are still investigating the incident.
However it's understood a number of shots were fired at a house in the Ardmore Park estate at around 3pm.
The boy suffered gunshot wounds and was admitted to Waterford Regional Hospital but his condition is described as stable.
A burnt out vehicle was found three miles from the scene and gardai say they are investigating whether this is linked to the incident.
A PAINSTAKINGLY negotiated truce to a vicious feud between two families appeared to be in tatters last night after the brutal shooting of a teenage boy who was helping his mother unload her shopping.
The 14-year-old suffered multiple pellet wounds in the shooting which occurred at about 3pm as he was standing outside his home, at Ardmore Park, in Ballybeg, Waterford.
The boy suffered injuries to his chest, arm, neck and face after he was shot, from a distance, by what is suspected to have been a shotgun.
It was feared last night that, had the attackers been just a few metres closer, the shooting could have been fatal.
Neighbours said the boy was helping his mother by the front door of their home with several bags of shopping when he was struck by the pellets.
There was no warning before the shooting -- neighbours said they heard a loud blast and then the sound of screaming.
Children were playing on the roadside just metres from where the shooting occurred.
The attack is believed to have been carried out by three men who fled the scene in a maroon-coloured saloon car. A vehicle matching that description was found burned out in the Butlerstown area of Waterford shortly after 5 pm. It was last night being examined garda technical experts.
The boy remained in serious condition in Waterford Regional Hospital in Ardkeen last night, though his injuries are not understood to be life-threatening.
Gardai were last night investigating whether the teen was shot by mistake -- and that was not the intended target of the attack.
Officers are also probing whether the shooting is linked to the bitter feud between two Waterford-based families.
The feud has already resulted in a series of savage revenge attacks over the past few months, ranging from a hatchet assault to arson attacks on various homes.
There has also been a spate of malicious-damage attacks to property, as well as several shootings in both Waterford and Cork.
In one of the attacks, shots were fired at a house which had eight children inside at the time.
Deliberate
It was unclear last night whether the attack was a deliberate attempt by elements within one of the families to wreck painstaking mediation talks, organised by Gardai, aimed at ending the bitter feud.
The talks had been facilitated by Midleton gardai in Cork.
No-one has been seriously injured in suspected feud-related attacks to date, but gardai acknowledged that the Ardmore Park incident could be "a very worrying development."
Waterford Gardai last night appealed for witnesses to the shooting to contact them and stressed that all information will be dealt with in strictest confidence. Gardai also stressed that they are very interested in anyone who may have spotted three men acting suspicious in a maroon-coloured car -- or transferring from that type of car to another vehicle.
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:( ]]> J. P. Dublin http://www.boardsie.com/forum/blog.php?b=207 Gangs Attempt To Flood West Dublin With Heroin http://www.boardsie.com/forum/blog.php?b=206 Thu, 07 Aug 2008 04:02:58 GMT *Gangs Attempt to Flood West Dublin with Heroin *By J. P. Anderson GARDAÍ have dealt a blow to a big drug trafficking gang after arresting three... Gangs Attempt to Flood West Dublin with Heroin

By J. P. Anderson

GARDAÍ have dealt a blow to a big drug trafficking gang after arresting three key members red-handed at a heroin-mixing centre.
They seized 5kg of heroin, with an estimated street value of €1 million, when they raided a family home in Clondalkin, west Dublin.
The seizure brings to around 120kg the quantity of heroin seized so far this year, some 80% of the total recovered last year.
The 147kg seized in 2007 was a record total for the country and compared to previous hauls of 129kg in 2006, 33kg in 2005, 26kg in 2004 and 27kg in 2003.
Two-thirds of the heroin hauls this year have been made in west Dublin — almost half in the neighbouring suburbs of Clondalkin and Ballyfermot.
A number of garda units, including the Garda National Drugs Unit and the Organised Crime Unit, as well as local drugs units, have carried out regular operations targeting drug gangs in the area this year.
Between them they have clocked up a number of large seizures, have made significant arrests and have also confiscated firearms. Gardaí say a number of the gangs are trying to “flood” west Dublin with heroin.
In the latest operation on Tuesday night, officers attached to the Ballyfermot Drug Unit searched a house on Westbourne Green in Clondalkin. When they entered the house, at 10pm, they found three adults.
One of them tried to bluff his way out of the house, but was stopped. A large bag, containing much of the heroin, was taken off him.
Officers said the house was an effective mixing factory, replete with weighing scales, mixing agents for diluting and cutting heroin, as well as a large quantity of small bags for street sale.
Some €10,000 in cash was also seized.
A 55-year-old man and a couple, both aged 33 were arrested. It is understood there were children in the house at the time. The trio were taken to Ballyfermot and Clondalkin garda stations and detained under the Drug Trafficking Act.
The suspects are considered to be relatively high up the ladder in the gang, which is centred on an old criminal family in the area.
The family has long been involved in trafficking and has built up links with gangs in Manchester and Liverpool to import of heroin.
While senior officers suspect they are now seizing a greater percentage of the overall volume, they say the demand for heroin has spread outside Dublin.
Provisional figures for this year show that at least 3.5kg of heroin have been seized in Limerick so far this year.
In addition, Limerick gardaí were involved in an operation that seized another kilo of heroin in west Dublin. Limerick gangs have developed links with a number of top drug gangs in west and south Dublin.
Limerick gangs in turn supply heroin to Cork, Galway, Kerry and Tipperary.
Large hauls this year * 32kg (worth €6.4m) seized in Ballyfermot, west Dublin, on January 15.
* 20kg (€4m) seized in Clondalkin, west Dublin, and 5kg in a related find in Drimnagh, south Dublin, on June 19.
* 20kkg (€4m) recovered in Ashtown, west Dublin on July 7.
* 10kg (€2m) seized in Meath on March 15.
* 10kg (€2m) confiscated in Tallaght, south Dublin, on January 25.
* 6kg (€1.2m) seized in Palmerstown, west Dublin on May 20.
* 5kg (€1m) recovered in Walkinstown, south Dublin, on May 21.
www.garda.ie
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:stoner::thumbdown: ]]> J. P. Dublin http://www.boardsie.com/forum/blog.php?b=206 <![CDATA[Additive 'Lignocaine' Increases Cocaine Death Risk]]> http://www.boardsie.com/forum/blog.php?b=205 Sat, 02 Aug 2008 03:15:32 GMT *Additive ‘Lignocaine’ Increases Cocaine Death Risk Says Coroner *By J. P. Anderson DUBLIN CITY coroner has expressed concern at the high number of... Additive ‘Lignocaine’ Increases Cocaine Death Risk Says Coroner

By J. P. Anderson

DUBLIN CITY coroner has expressed concern at the high number of instances where cocaine is being cut with lignocaine, a heart drug and local anaesthetic which increases the cardio-toxic effects of cocaine.
Dr Brian Farrell made his comments during two separate inquests into the deaths of young men at Dublin City Coroner’s Court yesterday, in both of which instances cocaine and lignocaine were consumed.
Darren Cummins (35) of Kilbarron Drive, Kilmore, Dublin 5, was discovered lying on his bedroom floor by his 15-year-old daughter on the afternoon of October 1st, 2007.
A toxicology screening revealed he had consumed cocaine which was cut with lignocaine, as well as methadone and sedative drugs, and he had died from the toxic effect of those drugs.
Meanwhile, a second inquest into the death of Andrew Sheridan (22) of North Great Charles Street, Dublin, heard that the young man was found unconscious on a friend’s couch on the morning of July 27th, 2007 and had a large combination of drugs in his system including cocaine, heroin, sedative drugs, methadone and lignocaine.
“Lignocaine is increasingly being used as an adulterant for cocaine on the streets and we are concerned about it. There is a concern about the use of the drug in inducing or enhancing cocaine-induced cardiac arrhythmia. It increases the cardio-toxic effects of cocaine,” Dr Farrell said.
Because Mr Sheridan was brought by ambulance to the Mater Hospital, where he was pronounced dead, lignocaine may have been used to resuscitate him, which would account for the presence of the drug, but the cocaine he consumed may have been cut with the adulterant, the court heard.
Mr Cummins, who was on a methadone maintenance programme and was waiting for a place on a methadone detox programme, was last seen by his mother and sister around midnight on October 1st.
His daughter found his body the following day when she went upstairs to see whether her father was awake. He was cold and had been dead for a number of hours.
Sobs of grief filled the courtroom yesterday as his mother, Marie Cummins, said that Mr Cummins had lived for his daughter and had made plans for her 16th birthday, her debs and for college.
The coroner recorded verdicts of death by misadventure in both cases and expressed his condolences to the families.
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:stoner::thumbdown: ]]> J. P. Dublin http://www.boardsie.com/forum/blog.php?b=205 Human Trafficking Crackdown Hotline For Just Three Weeks http://www.boardsie.com/forum/blog.php?b=204 Fri, 01 Aug 2008 04:24:47 GMT *Human Trafficking Crackdown Hotline For Just Three Weeks *By J. P. Anderson A 24-hour telephone hotline is to be established as part of fresh... Human Trafficking Crackdown Hotline
For Just Three Weeks

By J. P. Anderson

A 24-hour telephone hotline is to be established as part of fresh efforts to crack down on human trafficking.
The Department of Justice said it was seeking suitably qualified personnel to steer a national awareness campaign to run for three weeks in October.
The winning tender will not only spearhead a nationwide advertising campaign, but will also operate a 24-hour telephone hotline for the confidential reporting of suspicions of trafficking for the duration of the three week campaign.
The campaign is likely to mirror a recent initiative in Britain entitled the “blue blindfold” scheme.
Launched late last year, that campaign sought to raise awareness among male sex buyers of the exploitation and trafficking involved in prostitution, and featured posters and advertising depicting ordinary people wearing blue blindfolds and seemingly oblivious to the exploitation of those around them.
The Department of Justice has secured permission for the use of the blue blindfold motif, while the campaign will stress that human trafficking can happen anywhere and that people should not close their eyes to the possibility of it occurring in apparently everyday situations.
The winning tender will also be responsible for the distribution of information packs for the campaign to 475 governmental, non- governmental and private sector organisations. The packs will also be distributed to 725 Garda stations around the country.
The campaign is being driven by the department’s anti-human trafficking unit and follows a number of recent political initiatives.
In May, the Minister for Justice, Dermot Ahern, announced that the Criminal Law (Human Trafficking) Act 2008 had been signed into law. It came into effect in June, while last month the Dáil committee justice, equality, defence and women’s rights adopted an amendment to proposed new immigration legislation to help protect child victims of trafficking.
The US Trafficking in Persons Report, released last month, also recommended that Ireland “implements a visible trafficking-demand reduction campaign”.
All this followed criticism of the Government’s Immigration Bill, which the opposition claimed would do nothing to help the hundreds of unaccompanied children who have gone missing in Ireland in recent years.
Earlier this year the Irish Examiner revealed how a woman had been arrested and charged in her native Moldova on suspicion of trafficking people into Ireland, though the gardaí later said they had no information regarding the case.
The Government also hopes to be able to ratify next year its signing-up to the Council of Europe Convention on Action Against Trafficking in Human Beings, and the UN Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons.
www.stopthetraffik.org
:signs013::gfy: ]]> J. P. Dublin http://www.boardsie.com/forum/blog.php?b=204 Garda Chief Warns Of Crystal Meth Scourge http://www.boardsie.com/forum/blog.php?b=203 Fri, 01 Aug 2008 03:36:22 GMT *Garda Chief Warns Of Crystal Meth Scourge *By J. P. Anderson GARDA commissioner Fachtna Murphy issued a chilling warning about a new drugs threat... Garda Chief Warns Of Crystal Meth Scourge

By J. P. Anderson

GARDA commissioner Fachtna Murphy issued a chilling warning about a new drugs threat facing this country known as crystal meth.
Commissioner Murphy, speaking at a graduation of 286 new gardaí at Templemore College, referring to the “scourge” of crystal methamphetamine, said: “I would ask and plead with the public, doctors, nurses, parents who may come by information on this drug, to contact the gardaí and make sure this scourge of drug does not come into this country. I will be doing everything possible to see that this drug does not filter into this country.”
Commissioner Murphy pointed to problems crystal meth has caused in the US.
He said: “There is a higher death rate than heroin. A recent drugs operation undertaken by gardaí discovered a substantial quantity of crystal meth. This was ... the largest seizure of this type of drug in Ireland.
“I can assure you that An Garda Síochána will do everything within its powers to counter the threat of such a substance and the absolute misery attached to it. We will continue to work with other agencies to seek out new solutions to these emerging problems.”
The young gardaí, graduating yesterday, he said, would help in the frontline response to this emerging drugs threat.
He told the new gardaí: “The best advice I can give you is that our most important partner in dealing with problems in a community is the community itself.”
Referring to yesterday’s report from the Garda Complaints Board, Commissioner Murphy said he was delighted to lead the force in a new era of openness and accountability which has seen the setting up of an independent ombudsman and whistleblower rights.
He said more than 80% of complaints made against gardaí had been deemed by the commission not valid.
He said: “I say to my people ‘do your job. Be out there and act within the rules of the law and you have nothing to fear’.”
Commissioner Murphy said the importance of a visible presence among the public could not be overstressed.
He added: “It is essential that we get back to the basics of policing, to be seen on foot patrols in our towns and villages, to get to know the local community and earn their trust and confidence and thereby allay their fears and concerns.”
Meanwhile, community drug groups claimed the Government was failing to implement its own drugs strategy at a time when the drugs problem was getting “significantly worse”.
The Citywide Drugs Crisis Campaign said a huge fund, which was part of the drugs strategy budget, had been unilaterally taken away and placed in another department. It feared the same level of resources will no longer be ploughed in.
And the group said that a key Government strategy on rehabilitation had become bogged down in bureaucracy, despite the dire need to move people beyond a life on methadone.
“At a time when the drugs issue is continuing to have a devastating impact on our communities, it is completely unacceptable and almost beyond belief that the Government is cutting back on resources to tackle the problem,” said Citywide’s Fergus McCabe. He said the various national drug structures had not been told that the Government was moving the Young People’s Facilities and Services Fund from the Department of Community Affairs, where the minister of state with responsibility for the National Drugs Strategy is based.
The fund, which has allocated more than €150 million in recent years, is being transferred to the Office of the Minister for Children.
www.garda.ie
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:stoner::banghead: ]]> J. P. Dublin http://www.boardsie.com/forum/blog.php?b=203 Irish Child Protection Services Hostile http://www.boardsie.com/forum/blog.php?b=202 Fri, 01 Aug 2008 02:49:56 GMT *Child Protection Services Seen As Hostile *By J. P. Anderson CHILD PROTECTION services are viewed by many children and parents who have come... Child Protection Services
Seen As Hostile

By J. P. Anderson

CHILD PROTECTION services are viewed by many children and parents who have come into contact with the system as powerful, unsympathetic and hostile, according to a report published yesterday.
The study also found that victims of domestic violence often experienced difficulty in having their concerns taken seriously and found the system difficult to access.
The study, Service Users' Perceptions of the Irish Child Protection System, by Dr Helen Buckley, a senior lecturer at Trinity College Dublin's school of social work, was based on almost 70 service users' experience.
A number of people surveyed believed they had been harshly and unfairly judged, feeling that social workers did not consider all the complexities and stresses in their lives. In particular, they felt too much responsibility was being left to them, even when they were too weak or traumatised to take action, the report found.
Young people in care said changes in their allocated social workers caused unsettling disruptions, especially where relationships with their workers were crucial.
Children in the process of leaving care also raised concerns about the future services they would receive.
On a positive note, a number of service users spoke of the practical help and therapeutic input they received from child protection services.
While some interventions were generally highly rated, some people expressed dissatisfaction with delays and unreturned phone calls on the part of staff which left them feeling "abandoned and insulted".
Commenting on the findings, Dr Buckley said the often negative view of child protection services was largely due to preconceived ideas and attitudes, as well as conflicting views on what constituted adequate parenting.
"Service users held some misinformed views of the powers of social workers to remove their children from them - an overarching fear experienced by the majority of those reported to the system," she said.
"In a number of cases, negative perceptions were modified once service users engaged with the services. However, a number of interviewees were very dissatisfied with the way that mistaken or malicious reports about them were handled."
The report makes a number of recommendations aimed at improving services, such as a "dual-track" approach which would help child protection teams discriminate between children who are seriously at risk and children in vulnerable families who are more likely to benefit from a welfare-oriented, therapeutic approach.
It also suggests establishing a specific service which would deal with allegations in the context of separation and custody disputes.
In response to the report, the Health Service Executive (HSE) said the report was based on a small sample of service users and was unrepresentative of the system in general.
"While the HSE noted references in Dr Buckley's report from service users describing social workers as 'lacking in empathy', we would equally note and recognise her reference to reports of social workers considered to be 'understanding, kind and calm'," the HSE said in a statement.
HSE childcare specialist Aidan Waterstone added that it was often inevitable child protection services by their nature were viewed as an unwelcome intrusion into the life of many families.
"It is therefore noteworthy that four out of 10 of the respondents in the research sought out contact with these services, and many had positive things to report about the services they subsequently received," he said.
A REVIEW of national child protection guidelines has found they are being implemented inconsistently by health authorities, the Garda and other agencies across the State.
The report by the Office of the Minister for Children also pointed to serious deficiencies, with a lack of support services such as an out- of-hours service for crisis cases and therapeutic interventions.
Overall, there was little evidence of confidence among those involved in child protection that the guidelines were being implemented effectively. For example, just 9 per cent of respondents felt the structures and bodies necessary for the successful operation of the "Children First" guidelines were in place.
Many also felt the initial impetus for implementing the guidelines had lost momentum and that progress had become variable across the State.
Despite these shortcomings, the review group said it did not feel the guidelines needed to be fundamentally revised or replaced. Instead, it said that issues of consistency in implementation and the development of standards should be given priority.
On the issue of whether the guidelines should be placed on a statutory basis, the report said there was no evidence to suggest that this would provide greater protection for children.
The report also said that mandatory reporting could divert scarce child protection resources, causing an extensive administrative burden, and implementation of sanctions.
Speaking at the report launch, Minister for Children Barry Andrews said his office would follow up on the report's recommendations to improve the implementation of existing guidelines.
"It is important to realise that 'Children First', while not on a statutory basis, still brings with it very clear responsibilities for those who become aware of child protection issues, and these responsibilities are those we would reasonably expect everyone in society to live up to in relation to caring for children," Mr Andrews said.
HSE childcare and family specialist Aidan Waterstone said health authorities were "actively engaged in a process of standardisation across the country".
"The establishment of the HSE as a single national health service provided us with the opportunity to achieve this," he said.
However, Fine Gael spokesman on children Alan Shatter said the review laid bare the "unacceptable failure" of the HSE, the Garda and other State agencies to fully apply the guidelines in practice and the absence of any consistent implementation of them, even within individual HSE regions.
"Today's publications have confirmed that our child protection services are chaotic, uncoordinated and grossly inadequate," Mr Shatter said.
Child protection groups such as Barnardos and the ISPCC also urged the Government to act swiftly to address the significant gaps in the implementation of the guidelines, in particular to ensure that consistent, quality 24-hour support services are available.
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:th_thumbsdownsmiley:argue: ]]> J. P. Dublin http://www.boardsie.com/forum/blog.php?b=202 Cannabis Growing Operation Discovered At Newcastle County Dublin http://www.boardsie.com/forum/blog.php?b=201 Sat, 26 Jul 2008 18:26:13 GMT *Cannabis Factory Uncovered In Newcastle County Dublin *By J. P. Anderson Gardaí have discovered a cannabis growing factory producing industrial... Cannabis Factory Uncovered
In Newcastle County Dublin

By J. P. Anderson

Gardaí have discovered a cannabis growing factory producing industrial quantities of the drug in a warehouse in Newcastle, Co Dublin.
Three people have been arrested and are being detained at Clondalkin Garda Station.
Up to €250,000 worth of cannabis plants have been seized in the premises where they were being grown including fertilizers, heat equipment and hydroponic facilities.
Operation Vacuum, which is led by the Garda National Drugs Unit, also involved other national units and drug units from Meath, Laois and Dublin.
A number of searches were carried out this morning in Newcastle, Navan, Clonee, Ballymun and Portarlington.
--------------------------------
Cannabis use is seen across the socio-economic spectrum and it is by far the most common illicit drug of dependence in English-speaking countries, including Ireland.
Many people who use cannabis are unaware of the physical, psychological and social risks associated with its use.
Both the use of and dealing in cannabis are criminal offences in Ireland.
The cannabis market in Ireland is worth about 375million annually, this being more than the combined market for cocaine, heroin, ecstasy and amphetamines.
Cannabis use by Irish people as they enter early adulthood is a relatively new phenomenon. Those who grew up in 1960s, 1970s and 1980s in Ireland, were much less likely to experiment with cannabis than those who passed through their teens in the past decade.
It is estimated that there are in the region of 28,300 people in Ireland who are cannabis dependent.
People who develop cannabis problems are heterogeneous. They do not fit neatly into stereotypes. There are many routes into cannabis dependence. Similarly, there are many routes away from problematic cannabis use.
Irish teenagers are much more likely to use cannabis than their European counterparts and about 5000 (9%) of 16 year old school children in Ireland report using cannabis at least 3 times per month.
Cannabis plays a part as a stepping stone to more serious drug use. In other words, it is rare for somebody to progress to heroin use or cocaine use without first having tried cannabis.
However, most cannabis users never progress to using these other substances.
The vast majority of Irish people (69%) disapprove of people smoking cannabis occasionally.
Even if the cannabis law was liberalised, it is likely that under 18’s will still need to be treated differently and their use accounts for a substantial proportion of the cannabis use that occurs in Ireland.
There is four times as much tar in a cannabis joint compared to a regular cigarette. Cannabis smokers experience the same health problems as tobacco smokers, including bronchitis, emphysema, and lung cancer.
Peak incidence of cannabis use coincides with the time of maximum risk of developing serious mental health problems i.e. late teens and early adulthood.
Adolescent onset cannabis use leads to a four fold increase in the risk of developing schizophrenia.
Early onset cannabis use increases the risk of subsequently attempting suicide and those who started using cannabis before age 17 had a lower percentage of cortical grey matter compared to those who started later in life.
Third level students demonstrate particularly high rates of cannabis use. It seems likely that cannabis is a factor contributing to poor attainment and drop out by a sub-section of Irish Students.
Widespread drunkenness and Ireland’s tolerant attitude to alcohol intoxication provides cannabis users with a lot of ‘camouflage’.
Cannabis contributes to road traffic accidents, these being a major cause of mortality among young adults.
What a parent thinks to be alcohol intoxication in their teenage children may in fact be alcohol plus cannabis, or cannabis alone.
Parents probably need as much education, if not more, than their children about cannabis. Education which has an exclusive focus on children will have a limited impact.
Heavy cannabis use among young females has begun to equal that of young males. This will pose distinct problems in pregnant female users with the potential for the emergence of a foetal cannabis syndrome as there is growing scientific evidence that cannabis use during pregnancy caries a risk of persistent neurocognitive changes in the newborn infants and neurobehavioural changes that emerge in childhood.
Despite higher prevalence of cannabis use in the Dublin region, people from outside Dublin are much more likely to access treatment. This indicates a reluctance or inability of cannabis users in Dublin to access treatment. The uneven and insufficient treatment provision for cannabis dependence across Ireland is something which must be addressed.
Individuals who enter treatment for cannabis abuse frequently cite the upset caused to the family and loved ones as the main reason for treatment seeking.
The aims of specialist services for problem cannabis use include harm reduction; abstinence and relapse prevention.
Evidence based treatment approaches for cannabis dependence includes cognitive therapy and motivational interviewing.
Family therapy has an important role in the treatment of adolescents.
In view of the strong association between cannabis use and mental illness and the fact that mental health professionals have the required skills to provide evidence based treatment for cannabis addiction, the logical location for provision of treatment is within mental health services.
There has never been a cannabis awareness campaign in Ireland.
Education regarding cannabis is required across society and should not be exclusively focused on teenagers or schools. Indeed, teenagers are probably better informed about the risks and consequences of cannabis use than are their parents.
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:thumbup1::stoner: ]]> J. P. Dublin http://www.boardsie.com/forum/blog.php?b=201 Madeleine: Cops File Leaked On Web http://www.boardsie.com/forum/blog.php?b=199 Tue, 22 Jul 2008 10:43:15 GMT *Madeleine Cops File Leaked On Web *By J. P. Anderson _Kate and Gerry McCann_ (http://www.boardsie.com/fc/madeleine-mccann.html) have to wait a... Madeleine Cops File Leaked On Web

By J. P. Anderson

Kate and Gerry McCann have to wait a week to see the police files on the Madeleine case, but a summary has already been leaked to a Portuguese website.
It explains why the couple were made arguidos... because of the "scent of death" detected by the cadaver dog and their own reluctance to answer police questions.
According to the leak, the dog found the smell of a corpse in the couple's bedroom at apartment 5a and behind a sofa in the living room.
The dog detected the same on Madeleine's soft toy Cuddle Cat and on the key fob in the family's hire car.
The police report says the couple were made arguidos "due to the slight possibility of connection to a corpse".
The second animal - a blood dog - found traces of Madeleine's blood behind the couch, on two items of Kate McCann's clothes and on the key fob and in the car boot, according to the leak.
It also says there was a DNA match to Madeleine's on samples taken from the car but later forensic results did not confirm that initial finding.
Robert Murat was made a suspect after a British Sunday newspaper reporter gave his name to police because of his "inquisitive" behaviour.
Suspicions were fuelled by friends of the McCanns who claimed he helped in the search for Madeleine on the night she vanished, contradicting his alibi that he was at his nearby home with his mother all night.
The report says detectives found no one else who saw him on the night and telephone wires and searches provided no evidence of his involvement.
In a fascinating glimpse of the kind of information fed to police, one witness said he had overhead Gerry McCann talking into his mobile phone in nearby Lagos and saying "please don't hurt Madeleine".
Detectives did cell site analysis on Gerry's phone and established he was elsewhere at the time. The witness was wrong.
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:gfy: ]]> J. P. Dublin http://www.boardsie.com/forum/blog.php?b=199 Former Bosnian Serb Leader Radovan Karadzic Arrested http://www.boardsie.com/forum/blog.php?b=198 Tue, 22 Jul 2008 03:11:52 GMT *Top Bosnian Serb War Crimes * *Fugitive Karadzic Arrested* By J. P. Anderson BELGRADE/SARAJEVO (Reuters) - Bosnian Serb wartime president Radovan...

Top Bosnian Serb War Crimes
Fugitive Karadzic Arrested
By J. P. Anderson

BELGRADE/SARAJEVO (Reuters) - Bosnian Serb wartime president Radovan Karadzic, wanted for planning and ordering Europe's worst atrocities since World War Two, was arrested on Monday after 11 years on the run.
"Karadzic was located and arrested," President Boris Tadic said in a terse bulletin with the news that Bosnian Muslims had begun to despair of ever hearing.
It brought people out in the night onto the streets of Sarajevo, the city his troops shelled mercilessly during a 43-month siege, to celebrate the capture of the man charged with authorising the slaughter of 11,000 of their fellow citizens.
"I called and woke up my whole family," said Sarajevo resident Fadil Bico, as cars streamed through the streets honking horns and Bosnian state radio played excerpts of Karadzic's wartime hate speeches.
Serbian government sources said Karadzic had been under surveillance in Serbia for several weeks, after a tip-off from a foreign intelligence service. He did not resist arrest, they said.
His arrest was one of the main conditions of Serbian progress towards European Union (EU) membership, which most of its people desire.
Richard Holbrooke, former U.S. Balkan troubleshooter during the wars of the 1990s' described Karadzic as the Osama bin Laden of Europe," a real, true architect of mass murder".
Karadzic went underground more than a year after Holbrooke negotiated the 1995 Dayton accords that ended the war in Bosnia and NATO deployed a huge force of peacekeepers in early 1996.
Alleged sightings were rare. He was said to be hiding in monasteries, disguised, shuttling among remote hideouts with the help of a network of diehard loyalists.
TWO MORE SUSPECTS AT LARGE
His arrest leaves two war crimes suspects still wanted by the Hague tribunal. But it should be enough to secure Serbia closer ties with the European Union (EU) and possibly the status of EU membership candidate state this year.
Karadzic was indicted along with his army commander, General Ratko Mladic, for genocide at Srebrenica, where some 8,000 unarmed Bosnian Muslim males were rounded up and murdered and bulldozed into mass graves in July 1995.
"The arrest of Radovan Karadzic is confirmation that every criminal will eventually face justice," said Munira Subasic, head of a Srebrenica widow's association.
"I hope that people who had to keep quiet because of Karadzic will start revealing the locations of mass graves and let us find the truth about our beloved ones," she said.
The arrest came on the eve of a meeting of EU Foreign Ministers scheduled to discuss closer relations with Belgrade following the formation of a new pro-Western government.
"It proves the determination of the new Serbian government to achieve full cooperation with the ICTY (International Criminal Tribunal on the former Yugoslavia). It is also very important for Serbia's European aspirations," said European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso.
EU members who insist Serbia must handover all war crimes suspects are likely to see it as proof that Karadzic's fellow genocide suspect, the fugitive wartime commander Mladic can also be seized if Belgrade has the political will to face down hardline nationalists.
The new government is an odd-couple alliance of President Tadic's pro-Western Democratic Party and the Socialists of the late Milosevic, who died in detention at the Hague war crimes prison before Del Ponte could obtain a conviction.
EU WELCOMES ARREST
The EU, initially worried about where the Socialists stood on the Hague tribunal, welcomed the capture, which apparently took place in Belgrade.
The arrest was timed for maximum effect, coming on the eve of a visit by Hague chief war crimes prosecutor to Belgrade on Tuesday.
Karadzic, still seen by militant nationalists as a national saviour following the collapse of Yugoslavia, was expected to be transferred quickly to the custody of the Hague court.
"This is payback to the EU for bringing this new government to power," said Aleksandar Vucic of the nationalist Radicals, one of Serbia's strongest parties. "Karadzic is a Serbian hero. There will be a strong backlash."
Karadzic's place of hiding had been a constant subject of international speculation since he went underground in 1997. The West had long suspected Belgrade of failing to press the search, but the new government had signalled it wanted to comply.
Karadzic, who wore his long, grey hair in a floppy boufant, was currently undergoing a formal identification process, including DNA testing, and would be meeting with investigators overnight, official sources said.
(See full text at this link)
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:thumbup1::thumbup1: ]]> J. P. Dublin http://www.boardsie.com/forum/blog.php?b=198 Amy fitzpatrick is missing http://www.boardsie.com/forum/blog.php?b=197 Wed, 16 Jul 2008 08:25:27 GMT Our Daughter Amy Fitzpatrick went missing on the evening of New Years Day 1st January 2008 at approximately 10pm when she left her friends house in... Our Daughter Amy Fitzpatrick went missing on the evening of New Years Day 1st January 2008 at approximately 10pm when she left her friends house in the tourist resort of Riviera Del Sol on the Costa Del Sol to take the 10 minute walk to her house.

She was 15 at the time of disappearance.
she has black hair, is 1.65m tall, and was wearing dark coloured crushed velvet tracksuit bottoms and a black T-Shirt with the word 'Diesel' in various different colours when she was last seen.
Amy is originally from Clare hall in Dublin and moved to the Costa Del Sol with us 4 years ago.
We are still no closer to finding Amy and we are looking for your help to highlight Amy’s disappearance. If you are going on holidays please keep an eye out for amy as we want her home with us

thank you

Audrey fitzpatrick and Dave Mahon ]]> helpustofindamy http://www.boardsie.com/forum/blog.php?b=197 Top Law Enforcement Officials Join EU Drugs Agency http://www.boardsie.com/forum/blog.php?b=196 Wed, 16 Jul 2008 05:24:00 GMT *Top Law Enforcement Officials Join EU Drugs Agency *By J. P. Anderson A senior Garda and top customs official are to join an elite European agency... Top Law Enforcement Officials Join EU Drugs Agency

By J. P. Anderson

A senior Garda and top customs official are to join an elite European agency fighting cocaine shipments into Ireland, Justice Minister Dermot Ahern said last night.
The officers are being seconded to the Lisbon-based Maritime Analysis and Operations Centre (MAOC) after the Irish Government signed up to the international task force.
Mr Ahern said he got he got Cabinet approval for the move which will see Ireland, the UK, Netherlands, France, Spain, Portugal and Italy link up to fight drug smuggling.
“The pooling of resources makes sense and will lead to greater monitoring of suspicious vessels heading towards Irish waters,” he said.
“This in turn will lead to increased seizures and a reduction in the supply of cocaine. This centre will make the EU a much more hostile place for cocaine traffickers to operate.”
The MAOC will collect and analyse information on drug trafficking and enhance intelligence exchange between countries.
It will target large sea and airborne cocaine shipments into Europe, particularly from South and Latin America.
An Irish naval officer will also be seconded, when needed, to the centre which will house Europol and US Joint Inter-Agency Task Force observers.
“With over 16% of EU territorial waters in the Irish zone, the reasons for Irish participation in this initiative are obvious,” said Mr Ahern.
“Ireland has played a leading role in the establishment of this centre which will lead the fight against those trafficking cocaine into Europe and consequently into Ireland.
“The supply of cocaine in Irish society has increased enormously in recent years.
“This causes obvious social and health consequences and fuels organised and gangland crime, and ultimately leads to a futile loss of life.”
www.gardai.ie
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:stoner::thumbup1: ]]> J. P. Dublin http://www.boardsie.com/forum/blog.php?b=196 €12.5m Rudderless Drugs Plan Founders http://www.boardsie.com/forum/blog.php?b=195 Tue, 15 Jul 2008 03:02:26 GMT *€12.5m Rudderless Drugs Plan Founders *By J. P. Anderson A PROMISED blueprint to rehabilitate the growing number of drug addicts has not... €12.5m Rudderless Drugs Plan Founders

By J. P. Anderson

A PROMISED blueprint to rehabilitate the growing number of drug addicts has not progressed — a full year after the Government published its strategy.
This is despite an extra €12.5 million in the overall drugs budget this year, which was supposed to enable the implementation of the Government’s Rehabilitation Report.
The lack of progress comes three years after rehabilitation was made the “fifth pillar” of the Government’s National Drugs Strategy (NDS) — joining supply, prevention, treatment and research.
Anna Quigley, co-ordinator of the CityWide Drugs Crisis Campaign, said the bulk of the 10,000 or so heroin addicts on methadone will stay on it for the “rest of their lives” unless they were rehabilitated.
“At the moment the rehabilitation report is just sitting there. Its three years down the road since rehabilitation was made the fifth pillar. The lack of progress places serious question marks over the seriousness of the Government. It doesn’t show anything like the commitment needed.”
The rehabilitation report recommended the establishment of a new rehabilitation structure.
Highlighting that there was only 23 hospital detoxification beds in the country, it recommended an extra 25 beds, pending the publication of the HSE’s Working Group of Residential Treatment/Rehabilitation.
When that report was published earlier this year, it said the country needed 127 such beds.
Since then no extra beds have been provided nor have any rehabilitation co-ordinators been appointed.
Drugs strategy minister John Curran said: “It simply hasn’t happened. We’re regularly in contact with the HSE. They are going through a period of change and some issues we’d like to see addressed haven’t physically happened yet.”
Ms Quigley blamed the minister’s department, rather than the HSE, for the failure.
THE department overseeing the national drugs strategy — and not the HSE — is responsible for the failure to implement the Government’s rehabilitation strategy, a leading community drugs representative has claimed.
Anna Quigley, co-ordinator of the CityWide Drugs Crisis Campaign, said that to some extent it suited the Department of Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs to shift the blame to the HSE.
“Our view is the department is not taking responsibility. At the end of day, they are responsible for implementation of that rehab report,” said Ms Quigley, who is the community representative on the National Drugs Strategy Team.
“The HSE has been given a lead role to employ the rehabilitation co-ordinator, but it’s not a HSE strategy and the department is more or less handing the implementation over to the HSE.”
She said the department, and not the HSE, should have set up the National Drugs Rehabilitation Implementation Committee. She said CityWide had been arguing since the rehabilitation report was published in June 2007 for the committee to be immediately set up.
“It doesn’t guarantee you get resources, but at least you’d have people responsible. At the moment the report is just sitting there.”
She said that if the HSE wasn’t doing the job, the department should have taken the initiative back. “To some extent it seems to suit them to say it’s the HSE, because they are being blamed now for everything.”
The rehabilitation structure was a cornerstone of the Government’s drugs strategy last year.
Last December, the then Finance Minister, Brian Cowen, said: “I have added €12.5m to fund the implementation of the recommendations of the National Drug Strategy Rehabilitation Report.”
The then drugs strategy minister, Pat Carey, said: “I’m very happy €12.5m has been given to implement the rehabilitation report. That is what we were looking for.”
The new drugs strategy minister, John Curran, said the Government hadn’t made “the level of progress” it wanted. He said the extra hospital beds for detoxifying addicts hadn’t materialised.
“It simply hasn’t happened. We’re regularly in contact with the HSE. They are going through a period of change and some issues we’d like to see addressed haven’t physically happened yet.”
A spokesman for Mr Curran later clarified that only about €2.5m of the €12.5m was directly going to rehabilitation and that this included a €750,000 fund for local projects.
A HSE spokesman said the recruitment process for the national rehabilitation co-ordinator was “under way and the post will be advertised shortly”.
He said the national committee was “currently being formed” and that each relevant agency had been invited to nominate a representative.
No information was forthcoming on the status of the detox beds.
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:stoner::banghead::gfy: ]]> J. P. Dublin http://www.boardsie.com/forum/blog.php?b=195