The work goes on - Southill's day of action on drugs

- COMMUNITY WORK ON THE GROUND

- 100 ATTEND DRUGS INFO DAY IN SOUTHILL

- Limerick, June 23rd, 2010

The Local and Community Development Programme is due to take off by the end of this year - the structures are being argued over up and down of the country - and in the meantime the work on the ground in communities continues.

Southill CDP in Limerick today brought together 12 staff from 10 agencies involved in anti-drugs work for a public information day on drugs.

A lot of parents brought along their children to see what drugs look like, so they would recognise the dangers when confronted by the real thing.

'Changing Ireland' met a mother of an eight-year-old concerned about the way schoolchildren are being targeted. She was determined to educate her child before it was too late. Others sought advice on the day from Slainte, Aljeff, North Star, Cuan Mhuire, Victory Outreach from Cork and others on the way through addiction.

Caroline Keane is a community-based Drugs Education Worker and she says alcohol and nicotine are the most widely used drugs in Southill.

She was pleased at the end of the day: "We had 100 local people along today and 30 of them signed up for training." The training includes joining a Community Addiction Studies course starting in September.

Group photo above: John Hehir, Denise McNamara and Zoe Hehir who

attended the drugs information day and organiser Caroline Keane.

Photos below: Close-up shots of of patches from the North Star quilt. Each patch is in memory of someone who died before their time.

This report is the beginning in a series showing how local work around the country continues, while policy makers, politicians and community activists seek at the same time to influence the shape and structure of the new Local and Community Development Programme.