Dundalk TD warns of 'chaotic' party houses and addiction-fueled disruptions in communities

The need for interventions at family and community level, along with more services for addicts and people and with mental health issues, were raised by Dundalk TD Ruairí Ó Murchú during a Dáil debate last week on policing and community safety.

The Sinn Féin TD praised the Community Policing Unit at Dundalk Garda station and said the town had seen “community gardaí doing absolutely brilliant work in their interactions with the communities and sometimes they can deal with issues before they ever happen.”

He said “a lot more of that needs to happen” but added that he had spoken to Justice Minister Jim O’Callaghan about the necessity for interventions at family and community level and youth diversion programmes, such as those in Muirhevnamor and at The House in Cox's Demesne.

Deputy Ó Murchú also highlighted the lack of services for addicts and highlighted “the chaotic outworking of serious organised crime.”

He said: “It is not only drug debt and intimidation; there are also chaotic cases, sales pitches, party houses and people who come apart under addiction and create a huge hassle for the communities and businesses that surround them.

“Supports are not in place, whether those are gardaí, Tusla or the powers county councils have to deal with estate management issues. It is a multiagency matter and we need to deal with that.”

Gardaí in Dundalk are also having to deal with people with serious mental health issues because there is “not a robust enough mental health service.”

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He highlighted the case of one young woman he is aware of that has fallen to Gardaí to deal with.

He said: “The gardaí have been very good in how they have looked after her. They have arrested her multiple times under the Mental Health Act and doctors will not sign committal forms.

“They will sign for voluntary admission but not for committal, and we are dealing with circumstances that will get a lot worse.

“There is also the issue that many people no longer have a long-standing GP who would recognise the change in a person. I am not even getting into one element of how difficult this is. We could be talking about anosognosia and the idea that a person who is sick does not realise that is the case.”