Funding shortfall a blow to child drug use project

A DRUG group said it will have to severely cut a planned project to combat drug use among children, some as young as 10, after it received half the funding it needed from the Government.

Addiction Response Crumlin (ARC) said plans to expand a second programme aimed at cocaine and crack addicts will also have to be slashed in half.

ARC was one of eight projects in Dublin which received funding yesterday from the Emerging Needs Fund, set up by the Department of Community Affairs.

“We are very disappointed. This is supposed to be an emerging needs fund, well this is a huge emerging need in our area,” said ARC coordinator Susan Collins.

“We have no programme to deal with under-18s, but we know there is a need for a programme for children aged 10 to 18 and we said in our proposal the age could go lower than that.”

She said she knew of children in the area as young as 14 who were using cocaine.

“Children are also being used by dealers to move drugs around the area,” she said.

Ms Collins said that under the planned Ciall project for children they hoped to pay for a part-time addiction counsellor and family therapist as well as a team leader and two project leaders.

They also planned to rent a new premises.

She said they’ll have to cut the hours of the addiction counsellor and family therapist by half and hire only one project leader.

She said plans to hire skilled staff for the Croí Nua project for adult cocaine and crack users would also have to be cut back.

Ms Collins said crack cocaine was a growing problem and that some addicts were selling their homes to pay off dealers.

She said they had sought €345,000 for Ciall and €172,000 for Croí Nua. The Government gave them €300,000 for both projects, leaving them with a shortfall of nearly €220,000. She said the problem was not a lack of funding, but a lack of will in the Government.