THE Assistant Garda Commissioner, Mr Tom King, has agreed to establish a community forum to develop cooperation between gardai and communities, according to a report on drug abuse in Dublin's north inner city.
The forum proposal was welcomed in the interim report of the Inter Agency Drugs Project published yesterday. The drugs project includes representatives from the Garda, Government departments, Dublin Corporation community groups and the Eastern Health Board (EHB).
The report, initiated by the Inner City Organisations' Network (ICON), makes almost 40 proposals on tackling all aspects of the drug problem in the north, inner city. It covers treatment and rehabilitation; prevention and education; and supply and control.
The report recommends that young people from the drug affected parts of the north inner city should be targeted for recruitment" by the Garda. It also calls for a structures to allow weekly meetings between the Garda and local groups.
It urges the EHB to set up a local assessment centre in the north inner city to offer a referral and assessment service to drug users and their families.
Drug users would be assessed in the centre "within a reasonable period of time" and they would then be referred to a relevant treatment programme or support organisation. Waiting lists for treatment are currently up to one year.
In the short term, the report urges the EHB to cut the waiting lists in needle exchange clinics in the area to ensure a "basic service" for people who are waiting for a treatment programme.
The Department of Healthy should immediately set up "clear controls and monitoring systems" for the prescription of methadone by GPs to prevent it "leaking on to the street".
The report also recommends the examination of arrest referral schemes as an alternative to custody to divert drug users out of the criminal justice system.
The project's co ordinator, Ms Liz Riches, said the report brought the drugs issue to a local level by making specific recommendations. The project's chairman, Mr Fergus McCabe, said the community forum would be "pretty unique" in Ireland and was to be welcomed.
One of the project members, Mr John O'Driscoll, the sergeant in charge of the north central divisional drug unit, said many of the difficulties between the Garda and the community were due to lack of communication, which led to suspicion. This could be addressed through such a forum, he said.
Mr McCabe said the project members were committed to ensuring that its recommendations "don't just lie on some shelf but that they are implemented". The project's final report will be published by the end of next year.