Young people say underage drinking 'out of control'
Aontas Ogra Youth Club founder Billy Brown with Stephen O’Connor, Eamonn Lawler and John Rainsford.
ATHY, 22 March 2002: by Trish Whelan. Young people in Aontas Ogra youth club in Athy are behind a move to tackle alcohol abuse in their local community, and in particular underage drinking.
The club believes the problem to be out of control and is so huge that it can only be addressed on a community-wide basis, spearheaded by the local authority, Athy Town Council.
The club has for many years provided alcohol-free activities for young people in the town and felt something should be done to start tackling the problem. It was they came up with the idea of asking their local Council to become involved by convening a public meeting at which a committee would be formed to address the problem.
This week, their initiative resulted in an 11-member action group being set up to this end at a packed public meeting organised by Athy Town Council, attended by interested individuals and voluntary and statutory organisations. These included a representative of the Vintners Association, local Gardai and school principals.
At the meeting, which took place in the library of Athy Town Council civic offices, Jennifer Dalton (17) of Aontas Ogra said their core concern is the lack of suitable venues for young people in which to socialise and enjoy themselves in drug/alcohol free surroundings. This lack, she said, plays a huge part in the town’s underage drink problem.
She told how weekend binge drinking is seriously damaging some young people’s physical and mental health, often leading to depression and in extreme cases, to suicide.
Problems highlighted include conflict with parents over drinking habits and irresponsible behaviour. Many parents allow young people to attend alcohol centred venues which are geared towards adults.
“It’s difficult to run a disco without a problem of violence,” she said in her presentation.
Suitable venues were described as safe/supervised, alcohol/drug free, attractive enough to young people to compete with commercial venues, good value, a place where they FEEL safe and ARE safe and where their parents know they are safe.
She suggested that parents and young people should have a particularly important role to play in such a group, along with businesses, voluntary and statutory organisations.
“In Athy, we are very concerned about economic development which is vital to the welfare of all. However, hand in hand with economic development there must be social development. Athy needs to be both prosperous and a great place in which to live. Both are complimentary,” she told the meeting.
Many views were expressed at the meeing which showed that those present were clearly on the same wavelength.
©2002knn