Parents of teenagers in the Killarney area are being asked to "wake up" to the possibility of alcohol and drug abuse among Junior Certificate recipients over the next weeks.
They are also asked to be more assertive in their parenting of teenagers. Information packs going to parents of Junior Cert students in the Killarney area this week are part of a drive to combat substance abuse and especially underage drinking, an annual problem around the time of the Junior Cert results in September. It is the second year the packs will go to teachers and vintners as well as parents.
Nearly half of secondary school children have never had a drink, adults are told.
The booklets, drawn up by the HSE as well as the Killarney Drugs Liaison project, outline the impact of alcohol, ask parents to advise teenagers not to drink, to delay beginning to drink and when they do to drink slowly and alternate with soft drinks.
"The reality is that the fight against alcohol and drugs is being won or lost daily in the homes of young people . . . and by their parents. Parents must get in the way between their child and alcohol," Sr Kathleen Liston, director of family ministry in the Diocese of Kerry advises.