THE growing momentum of the anti drugs campaign in Cork initiated by the outgoing Lord Mayor, Mr Joe O'Callaghan, would be continued, his successor said last night.
Mr Jim Corr, who served as Lord Mayor 17 years ago, said he would work closely with the Garda and the Southern Health Board "so that young people and their families will be spared the awful and heart breaking consequences of drug addiction".
He said the drug problem was "the plague of the late 20th century" and would not go away "as long as young people are vulnerable and capable of being preyed on by unscrupulous drug pushers".
Mr Corr's election last evening was a foregone conclusion because of a three way pact between Fianna Fail, Fine Gael and Labour on the Cork City Council. Although he was opposed for the position by the Green Party councillor, Mr Dan Boyle, there was never any serious chance his election would be thwarted.
Mr Corr said he had identified a programme of civic leadership which he hoped to introduce during his year long term of office.
Two important issues were traffic congestion and the ability of Cork Corporation to maintain the public areas of the city. The improvements in public transport recommended by the Cork Land Use and Transportation Study had not been achieved, he said.
Mr Corr said he wanted to establish a series of think tank meetings on Saturdays in the autumn, at which the participants would identify the strategic issues for the city and hear from experts what could be done to formulate a new vision for Cork at the turn of the century. This would include a review of the present city development plan as well as its failures and successes.
He also suggested city and county local authorities should combine to analyse how one area was affecting the development of the other and called for submissions from interested organisations on the development of the city.
As part of his programme, Mr Corr said a new millennium committee should he set up and a comprehensive report on under funding of urban local authorities should be prepared to identify how successive governments over the past decade had left cities like Cork in a financial crisis.