Youth services being stretched to the limit, warns Stanton

THE crackdown on underage drinking in pubs is pointless when young people have nowhere else to go, Fine Gael has warned.

Although the government raises 1.5 billion in taxes on alcohol, just 45 million of this is invested in youth services and 26m of that comes from the National Lottery.

"We're putting in place all sorts of measures to limit youth and control them but if you talk to young people, they'll tell you they have nothing to do and nowhere to go," said Fine Gael TD David Stanton.