A new policy is set to tackle the “scourge” that is anti-social behaviour in Carlow.
The multi-agency plan was unveiled at yesterday’s meeting of Carlow County Council.
It will see the local authority team with Gardaí and social protection staff to tackle troublesome behaviour amongst residents of council housing.
Cllr Will Paton is welcoming the strategy, but says drug use in particular needs to be addressed, telling KCLR News “I think this is the first time that Carlow County Council has a written anti-social behaviour strategy for council tenants and most of the members were supportive of the strategy, including myself, but anti-social behaviour is the scourge in some of the housing estates, one issue I raised, in particular, was drug-dealing and members agree with me, it’s just appalling that these things should be happening”.
He adds “Sitting here in my study here in Carlow I occasionally see guys driving in on motorbikes and young lads coming up to them, the quick exchange of money and drugs and they’re gone in a flash, literally five, six seconds and the deal is done and they’re gone and that just can’t be acceptable in this day and age”.
The local Labour representative had also called for a stricter approach to combat the rise in drug dealing across Carlow, but says that failed to get over the line as he outlines “I proposed that anybody who’s convicted in a court of law in the Republic of Ireland for dealing drugs with a value greater than €10,000 should automatically be excluded from a council house, I don’t see why we should go along with that type of behaviour, people must know that dealing drugs is wrong and we have to stand up to it and we have to say to people ‘if you get convicted of dealing drugs you shouldn’t be allowed to stay in a council house’, unfortunately, the majority of the members of the council weren’t in favour of that”.
