RIGHT OF REPLY

by Martina Kenna, Community Development Officer, St Teresa’s Gardens Combined Group

Ken Powell’s article ‘Vigilantes take a back seat’ in the last edition of The Liberty is to be welcomed.

In reporting how inner city communities have responded to the heroin epidemic few reporters / journalists have taken the time to talk to the people on the ground, the people directly affected by the scourge of drug addiction or the people left to pick up the pieces.

The views of those who take the time to provide some defence or support groups or drug awareness and education programmes are all too often passed over for sensationalist headlines of "gangland drug war", "pushers / junkies out", "vigilantes mob runs riot", etc, etc.

Seldom have journalists bothered to seek out the real issues and stories behind the headlines and so it was refreshing to see that Mr Powell spoke to a cross section of people both statutory and voluntary before going to print.

The comments of the Corporation housing officials Jim O’Halloran and Gerry Geoghegan where they say they have found vetting committees in south inner city complexes both "fair and representative" are particularly welcome in that they represent a very important statutory body independent of the committees.

Indeed the views of Mick Hinney, the community sergeant at Kevin Street garda station, are an indication of improved relationships all round. Sergeant Mick Hinney states that when it comes to tenants suspected of anti-social behaviour the fact that Gardai, the Corporation and the committees now work closer is the main reason for "the sharp decrease in vigilante activity."

I’m hoping that Mr Powell’s article helps promote "greater understanding" of how groups and committees in the south inner city tackle the drugs crisis and serious anti-social behaviour and I believe that The Liberty can be a very useful vehicle in generating the debate around these issues.

But I would also appeal to The Liberty to refrain from some of the sensationalist headlines that they too used in the last issue. The sub-headline on pages 6-7 of the article read "ad hoc committees no longer terrorise their unsuspecting neighbours as night falls, now they help them."

I felt that was very unfair to the genuine, positive and constructive work undertaken by the members of committees right across the south inner city. There has been and possibly still is a vigilante element operating in the south inner city, giving a bad name to anti-drug groups and committees alike but to suggest that the positive attitude to be found now on "Ad-hoc" has replaced a previous "bad attitude" is wrong.

Martina Kenna, and not Brian Kenna, has stood in Dublin South Central in the last three general elections. Martina Kenna intends to be a candidate in the south west inner city in the forthcoming local elections. The error occurred during the sub-editing process and was no fault of the writer.