Friday, 6 March 2020

DUBLIN-BALLYMUN TEENAGERS LURED AWAY FROM SPORTS BY ALCOHOL DRUGS AND GANGS

Ballymun Community in Grip of Crack Cocaine Epidemic Makes Desperate Plea To Drugs Minister To End Influence of Drug Gangs

A north Dublin "community in fear and turmoil" has asked the Drugs Minister to take 'immediate action' to tackle a crack cocaine epidemic threatening to wipe out a generation of young people. Setanta GAA club in Ballymun revealed in recent months that teenagers have been lured away from its set-up by the influence of alcohol, drugs and gangs and the situation has now reached crisis point. Children as young as 13 are being groomed by criminal groups to become dealers and it is understood two former players are now dealing drugs in the area.

Setanta GAA club in Ballymun revealed in recent months that teenagers have been lured away from its set-up by the influence of alcohol, drugs and gangs.

But, despite meeting with Drugs Minister Catherine Byrne last month, club secretary Liam O'Brien said: "It's crazy out here, it's absolutely crazy." He continued: "Local people are frightened out in Ballymun. Things haven't got any better. Catherine Byrne said she's committed to coming out and visiting us [again]. "We feel there is an action plan needed for the area. Since we met Catherine Byrne on the 4th of October, Ballymun has been in the media for the wrong reasons."

Last month father of two Robbie Sheridan, 45, who had been told by gardai his life was under threat, was shot dead by two masked assassins at his house on Poppintree Crescent in Ballymun after detectives believe he fell foul, of a local drugs gang.

And one week ago, a 15-year-old was involved in a row with another teenage boy was left with cuts to his face after being slashed with a knife in in Balcurris Gardens, also in Ballymun.

The situation has become so bad that Setanta chairperson Eilis Ni Chearnaigh appeared on The Late Late Show last night to speak about it. Mr O'Brien said the club has amalgamated their minor team with Craobh Ciaran GAA Club, which has kept more younger players involved and away from the threat posed by criminality and drugs.
Crack Cocaine.
But he said the scenario facing many young people is sometimes they need to move away from the Ballymun area to ensure they do not get lured into criminality and drugs.

He said: "We've only a few [minors] here that are hurling. There's one young fella who is only 18 who works in an office who left the club recently after eight years. "He told me, 'I had to get out of Ballymun, I had to get out and move down the country. "They're all dabbling in drugs and I can't be having that. My head is wrecked with them. "I just had to move away from the area because I have a feeling it might just suck me in and if it sucks me in- I'll never get out'.

"He's a very talented player and has played with us since he was 10 years of age and he'll be badly missed and it's a real shame.

https://drugsinfonewslineireland.wordpress.com/  
"But hopefully, some-day he will play again for us. But he feels that he has no choice."

Setanta GAA club initially met the Drugs Minister last month and since then they have "put a plan together" with the Local Drug Task Force, local youth projects, local drug addiction services and other sports groups.

The Fine Gael junior minister is set to visit the clubs and groups in Ballymun soon and in a letter to her from Mr O'Brien on Thursday he called for community policing to be restored, the five year local area plan to be delivered on time and for an 'engaging youth encounter project to help young people.
Lines of Cocaine.
Ballymun has a worrying 25% unemployment rate - a staggering 20% higher than the national average, which does not include lone parents or people with disabilities.

Setanta GAA invited "different Ministers and an Taoiseach to Ballymun to meet with local groups to discuss our concerns".

The letter also stated that they are a "community in fear and turmoil of what lies ahead" and stressed, "We need immediate action with a comprehensive plan for the area."

Teenagers being used by criminals to peddle crack cocaine could be racking up large debts, an expert- fears. Hugh Greaves, co-ordinator of the Ballymun Local Drugs Task Force, said there was serious concern in the area over the recent upsurge in crack cocaine use. He said more funding and garda resources were needed to help tackle the problem. Mr Greaves said there were fears over teenagers being used by organised crime gangs to push drugs in the area. He insisted it wasn't just a problem in Ballymun and added that there is positivity in the area away from the drugs issue.

Worried


A huge amount of young - people are involved in sports and youth clubs in Ballymun too, he said. "We'd be very worried about some, but not all, young people who seem to be used in those kind of networks for those kind of purposes and we'd be very worried about the level of debt they might have," he said.

"They might owe some money to people, so they're under their control while they owe a few Euro and that sometimes has huge stress on families.

"We'd be very concerned that there's a deliberate use of young people for those kinds of purposes." Mr Greaves said the task force would support "Fagin's Law" coming into effect. The law would allow the prosecution of adults who groom children to commit crimes. His comments came after local hurling club Setanta GAA wrote to Drugs Minister Catherine Byrne about the major issues in the area.

In the letter, the club said the use of crack cocaine had increased tenfold in Ballymun and was now at epidemic levels. It also highlighted the grooming of children to push the drugs. "The number of users walking the streets like skeletons is a minute-by-minute event for us all to see," the letter said.

"We as a GAA club for Ballymun are at the front line, daily dealing with the ramifications this cancer in our society brings, while also trying to educate about its evils through our club drug awareness programmes.

"We as a community organisation see young people being groomed into dealing on a weekly basis due to our Government's failure to deal with the youth unemployment in our community, while also cutting resources in other areas such as housing, youth development and policing," the letter added. The loss of funding was one issue, Mr Greaves said, that has exacerbated the issue. He added he hoped the minister - when she responds to the letter - will address this issue in particular. Among other social issues associated with the increase in crack cocaine usage is the antisocial behaviour that comes with it.

"Our heroin numbers have been going down, but certainly there has been an increase in crack cocaine use and all the related activity that goes around crack cocaine," Mr Greaves said. "The things that the community would be witnessing are an increase in aggressive begging, theft, shoplifting and more serious burglaries."

ADDITIONAL TEXT:
Just last week, Ger Redmond stood before a crowd in Oldcastle GAA club in Meath with a story to tell. Once upon a time a pro soccer player in his teens, now he's a successful triathlete, but it was the dangers along the bridge in between that he wanted to push on those attending.

At 16, he'd been over on contract at Dunfermline but, with his father going to jail in Coolock, he moved home. Soon after his mother left and, with food on the table suddenly the priority, drugs entered. "That first night in jail," he says of where it took him, "it was a realisation of: 'What am I after getting myself into?' You're put down on a quiet wing, and it's reflection. The next day it's onto the main landing and you are terrified and wonder if you can get through this."

ENDS:
ALSO READ:

 https://socialjusticenewscomment.blogspot.com/search/label/MANCHESTER-GANGS-GROOM-PARENTS-TO-SUCK-TEENS-INTO-%20DRUG-TRADE 

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 https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/children-drug-mules-uk-thousands-county-lines-gangs-vulnerable-expanding-rural-britain-seaside-a8080001.html 

 https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/children-drug-mules-uk-thousands-county-lines-gangs-vulnerable-expanding-rural-britain-seaside-a8080001.html

 https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/10920745/shocking-photos-drug-ravaged-burglar-impact-of-addiction/ 

 https://science.howstuffworks.com/crack4.htm 

 https://www.uptodate.com/contents/pulmonary-complications-of-cocaine-abuse#!

 https://www.uptodate.com/contents/cocaine-acute-intoxication#!

 https://www.drugfreeworld.org/drugfacts/crackcocaine/effects-of-crack-cocaine.html 

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