MARIAN WHITE,
Sir, - As I passed the spot on Stillorgan Road this morning where two gardaí lost their lives, I was overwhelmed with emotion, not least because my son is a member of the Garda Síochána. My deepest sympathy goes to the families whose lives have been turned upside down.
Your paper carried a report from Priorswood Joyriding Task Force citing educational and social disadvantage as among the chief background factors contributing to so-called joyriding. The report suggests that strategies need to be developed to counteract negative influences affecting young people's lives. The plain fact is that there needs to be targeted investment in particular marginalised communities.
I work in Mountwood/Fitzgerald Park in Dun Laoghaire, one of the most disadvantaged areas in Ireland. Each day we struggle to ensure that the young people of the area have positive options in education, work and recreation, real alternatives to destructive and self-destructive behaviour. Examples of what we are doing include: early school-leaving prevention programmes; homework clubs and support development programmes for young people, including life and social skills, music, dance and drama; a community playschool and crêche, adult learning programmes.
I have concluded with regret, however, that opportunities to effect positive change in marginalised communities continue to be lost because there is little immediate political gain. Until elected representatives, particularly those of the government of the day, champion the rights of the disadvantaged and actively support targeted investment and social inclusion, nothing will change.
Mountwood/Fitzgerald Park is, ironically, doubly marginalised because it is in Dun Laoghaire. A perception that Dun Laoghaire is affluent seems to colour the official and political arbiters of targeted investment, so pockets of extreme deprivation get short shrift. How else to explain the recent allocation of sports grants by the Minister for Tourism, Sport and Recreation?
It may be a cliché to say so, but it remains a fact that high unemployment, low educational attainment, isolation, low self-esteem and exclusion all foster anti-social behaviour. The tragic loss of life and the ensuing family devastation of last weekend stand as a graphic reminder of the possible consequences of ignoring the needs of marginalised youth.
Mountwood/Fitzgerald Park has been undergoing redevelopment over the last few years. This community reluctantly accepted a reduction of 50 per cent in open space and the removal of tennis and basketball courts because they understood they would be compensated by the provision of a new purpose-built facility for community activities, including sports.However, it is proving near impossible to get funding commitments from the relevant Government Ministers.
The case for positive intervention in disadvantaged communities is not an academic one for Mountwood/Fitzgerald Park. Over the past three years we have had no referrals to the Juvenile Liaison Officer. In the Leaving Cert the educational norm has become Bs and Cs rather than Fs. We succeeded in increasing the annual number of young people continuing to third level from four in the 1980s to 16 in the 1990s.
This work remains under-resourced and to compound the problem we spend an inordinate amount of time trying to access funds instead of on development work. It is possible to reduce the likelihood of "joyriding", but an integrated response from government to tackle poverty and marginalisation is of critical importance. Responses are needed on several levels and words need to be followed by actions, such as resources and supports for tackling the problems on the ground. - Yours, etc.,
MARIAN WHITE, Lakelands Close, Stillorgan, Co Dublin.