AN intensive public relations programme to get the co operation of the people of Cork city in fight against drug peddling abuse was launched yesterday Cork Corporation.
The £45,000 programme, the its kind by a local authority in the Republic, will bring together the Garda, the Southern Health Board and the business community in Cork to stem the city's rising drug problem.
Over the past months, the Lord Mayor of Cork, Mr Joe O'Callaghan, together with an advisory group, met representatives of youth, community and education interests in the city to discuss how the information programme could best be set up.
Since then, a specialist committee comprising addiction councillors, teachers, gardai and public health officials has been established. Every home in Cork will soon get an information pack about illegal drugs, along with information on community based programmes to combat the drug problem.
At a news conference in Cork yesterday, Mr O'Callaghan said the city was sending out a message to drug pushers that they were no longer going to be tolerated. "We are putting them on notice that the time has come to stop, desist or depart. Nobody will be able to say later on that they were not aware of our warning and the people in general will not be able to say that action was not taken."
Mr O'Callaghan said he believed vigilante groups would not take the law into their own hands in Cork once it was seen that the city, together with other agencies, had combined to act in a concerted manner against drug pushers. "I have no doubt that results will be produced and that people's lives will be touched or saved because of our action."
Cork Corporation, he said, had looked at the escalating drug problem in Dublin and had realised that while the situation was not yet out of control in Cork, the time for action was now. "We're not criticising any other city, it's just that we have come to the realisation of where we stand and of what action is necessary here", he added.
The information programme will be launched official at a public meeting in Cork on Thursday evening. It will be attended by the parents of Liah Betts, the teenager who died in Britain four months ago after taking a single ecstasy tablet on her 18th birthday. Mr and Mrs Betts will also visit a number of Cork primary and secondary schools the following day.
Next Saturday, a seminar will be held in Connolly Hall, Cork, for voluntary and community groups. Speakers include Mr John F. Timmoney, the recently retired first deputy commissioner of the New York Police Department, and Dublin TD Mr Tony Gregory.
As well as the information pack, the Corporation has produced a video aimed at 12 to 15 year olds, to be shown to schools and youth organisations throughout the city. A team of multi disciplinary speakers has also been formed, which will be available to schools and community groups as needed.
Mr Jack Higgins, the Cork City manager, said the Corporation had decided to look at its powers in relation to local authority tenants who might be involved in drug dealing. The Corporation was looking specifically at a small number of cases and would not hesitate to act if the necessary evidence was provided.
"While drug convictions are a matter for the gardai, we have powers under our leasing contracts which require tenants not to behave in an anti social manner. There is growing concern about the effect of drugs in the city and a number of cases are being looked at. If tenants are found to have been in breach of the leasing arrangements, we will seek evictions in the courts", he said.