Taking the 'Anti' out of Anti-Social Behaviour

Last week I had a visit from Transition Year students from St. Kevin's College, Ballygall who came into Leinster House to present their Young Social Innovators project to myself and some fellow Labour TDs, Kevin Humphreys, Derek Nolan and Robert Dowds.

 

Their project, entitled ‎'Taking the Anti out of Anti-Social Behaviour' was a great addition to the YSI competition this year and the students asked fantastic questions, as well as posing great ones to myself and other TDs after the presentation.

I've talked about Anti-Social Behaviour before, and the united community responses needed to combat it, particularly in the context of illegal dumping other issues. This project was a valuable addition to that discussion and I hope the school and the students concerned will continue to talk about this issue and log into solutions on the matter. I will certainly take into account their valuable work and their comments on my questions in my work on this problem over the coming weeks and months.

I know some pilot projects under way in Ballymun, such as the 'Easy Street' programme are innovative responses to the problem and I hope this model can be used across Dublin-North West and Dublin in general. My colleague and Councillor for Finglas and Ballymun Ward, Cllr Steve Wrenn, is attending a conference in the coming weeks in the UK on various responses to these problems in similar demographic areas and I know he will be reporting back to Dublin City Council and myself on some of their solutions to the problem.

Please contact me on 01 618 3280 or on john.lyons@oireachtas.ie if you want to discuss this issue in your area or talk about solutions underway to address anti-social behaviour.