Rapid Response Unit appeals to parents to speak to teens after attending 'another drink and drug-fuelled night'

A Cork response unit has appealed to parents to speak with their teens after the unit attended an incident over the weekend in Clonakilty, Co Cork.

The West Cork Rapid Response unit has encouraged parents to speak with teenagers between the ages of 15 to 17 years old about drug and alcohol use.

"Another drug-fuelled night out in Clonakilty using up valuable emergency service resources," it wrote on Facebook.

"Parents, it’s time for that chat with your kids in the morning. All 15 to 17yrs olds so far tonight..."

A local community worker and former town councillor for Clonakilty, Cionnaith Ó Súilleabháin, agrees with the message.

He said questions must be asked about the accessibility of alcohol and the fact that teens as young as 14 are allowed to book buses carrying teenagers to local teen nights out.

"The problem is enforcement," he told Patricia Messinger on C103’s Cork Today Show in reference to laws around underage drinking.

He claimed young people arrive in a town "visibly intoxicated or under the influence of some substance", hanging around local parks “a bit off their tree”.

Mr Ó Súilleabháin said people who fundraised for the rapid response unit did not anticipate it would attend drunk teenagers.

"I don't think anyone that organised a coffee morning or gave a cheque for €50 in a donation to West Cork Rapid Response ever envisaged that this was to be a babysitting service for out-of-control teenagers.

"Their parents don't seem to be aware or in some cases maybe don't care where their children are on a Saturday night."

Listen to the interview here: