The drugs epidemic - and the crime and other social problems that it has brought - is the greatest problem facing our society, believes Pat Rabbitte, Democratic Left TD. The highest demand for heroin is in the areas of the greatest social disadvantage - where people are disconnected from the economy and thus society at large.
This was the conclusion of the Ministerial Task Force on Measures to Reduce the Demand for Drugs, October 1996, of which Rabbitte was chairman. The task force found that the 8,000 heroin addicts in Dublin were "concentrated in communities that are also characterised by large-scale social and economic deprivation and marginalisation. The physical/environmental conditions in these neighbourhoods are poor, as are the social and recreational infrastructures".
All but one of the 10 worst areas in the State were in Dublin. The only exception was north Cork city. "Life in these estates for many has become nasty, brutish and short," Pat Rabbitte said.
The list included the north and south inner cities of Dublin, Ballymun, Ballyfermot (especially Cherry Orchard, Decies, Drumfin, Inchicore, Kilmainham and Kylemore), Finglas/Cabra, Crumlin, Coolock (especially Priorswood), Blanchardstown (especially Coolmine and Corduff), Clondalkin (especially Moorfield, Rowlagh and Palmerston West) and Tallaght (especially Fettercairn, Jobstown, Killinarden, Millbrook, Springfield and Tymon).
"There is no interaction between the two Dublins. We have built the city in such a fashion that deprivation and disadvantage are concentrated in various areas and it is extremely difficult to get out," says Pat Rabbitte. These ghettos - as Anne Power calls them - have to be targeted as specific geographic areas of disadvantage, says Rabbitte.
"We have to concentrate a multi-faceted approach of tax breaks, reliefs, pre-school education and Breaking the Cycle schemes on specific geographic areas," he argues. If we have Udaras na Gaeltachta to nurture life in Irish-speaking areas, why shouldn't we have an agency to focus on urban ghetto areas, he asks. It has to be a multi-faceted approach.
A prevailing welfare dependency syndrome in these estates has to be counteracted by skill training and education, he believes. The British Prime Minister Tony Blair wants single mothers to be forced to go out to work if they are to receive benefits. "There's no point offering single parents the Blair option if the jobs are not there," says Pat Rabbitte. "I would not have any difficulty with an incentive system to put people back into the workplace, but not the stick and carrot approach. There's no point saying to people `get a job' unless they are equipped to get a job and the jobs are there."