Dublin West: Open public forum debate on drugs, crime and community safety

Safer Blanchardstown, Blanchardstown Local Drug & Alcohol Task Force and Blanchardstown Family Support Network have invited all Dublin West TDs, local councillors and general election candidates to take part in an open public forum debate on drugs, crime and community safety on Thursday, February 11th.

The forum aims to highlight these complex issues locally and secure commitments from politicians and the community on a local drug strategy that will feed into the National Drug and Alcohol Strategy currently being developed for launch in 2017.

The issue of drugs, crime and community safety is of such importance and affects so many families in the Dublin 15 area we feel it is imperative that prospective Public representatives are able to demonstrate that they not only understand the issues but that they are committed to supporting local community services.

Candidates invited to attend, include Tánaiste Joan Burton, Minister for Health Leo Varadkar and TD Ruth Coppinger (SP) as well as candidates such as Cllr Jack Chambers (FF), Cllr Paul Donnelly (SF) CllrRoderic O’Gorman (GP) and Cllr David McGuinness (Ind).

The forum will be held on February 11th  at 7.30pm in the Crowne Plaza Hotel, Blanchardstown Town Centre, Dublin 15. The meeting will be chaired by Anna Quigley, Coordinator of the Dublin CityWide Drugs Crisis Campaign.

To set the scene, the meeting will begin with a short presentation of key findings from very relevant research soon to be published and recently carried out by Blanchardstown Local Drug and Alcohol Task Force on drug and alcohol trends in the Blanchardstown area.

Members of the community, community volunteers, local activists, representatives of various groups, projects and agencies dealing directly with the drug users and their families and related services are encouraged to attend and take up this unique opportunity to discuss this very serious and complex issue.

Places are limited so we would be very grateful if you would register your interest in attending this event by sending an email to linda@bldtf.ie