The Cork Local Drugs Task Force announced yesterday that £800,000 is being made available for 16 initiatives to combat the growing drugs and alcohol menace in the city.
Club and bar-owners, their staff and doormen, are to be enlisted to combat drugs. Off-licence owners and their staff will also be asked to help in the fight against under-age drinking.
In the schools, two full-time counsellors will be available to pupils, teachers and parents. This part of the project will cover all secondary schools in Cork city.
In 1996 a Southern Health Board survey of alcohol and drugs use in Cork and Kerry found that almost 90 per cent of the 20-24 age group were drinkers, as were half of the interviewees under 18.
The survey also found that cannabis, LSD and ecstasy were widely available in Cork, and that smoking and alcohol were highly associated with increased drug use.
In its own survey published last year, the task force established that 51 per cent of 14 to 25-year-olds drank weekly, 24 per cent smoked cannabis and 13 per cent were occasional solvent-abusers. The new plan aims to address the problem through information, preemptive action, counselling and special treatment.
Community-based projects will be funded in six different areas of the city from Ballyphehane to Gurranabraher, and a support centre for parents will be established in the city centre with professional help available.
Special training will be provided for peer educators, community groups and voluntary workers, while support schemes for early school-leavers and former prisoners will be put in place.
Two trained workers will be appointed to provide outreach services, 24 hours a day, at risk.
A halfway house for men who have just completed treatment is also to be provided. Ultimately, as part of a strategic plan for the city, the task force aims to develop a residential treatment centre for adolescents.