DRUGS TO BE A FACTOR IN HOUSING

A Local authority in Donegal will tonight decide whether to exclude from
its housing waiting list anybody convicted of a drugs offence in an effort
to address what councillors see as a growing drug problem. The motion will
come before Letterkenny Urban District Council at its monthly meeting and
is in response to the number of recent drug finds in the north-west.

More than 1,000 ecstasy tablets were seized in a house in Letterkenny last
weekend, and last month pounds 500,000 worth of cannabis and ecstasy
tablets were found in Tubbercurry, Co Sligo, in a seizure last month.

An Independent councillor, Mr P.J. Blake, has proposed the motion which
would require amending clauses in the UDC's letting agreements under
Section 14 of the Housing Miscellaneous Provisions Act. If passed, the
provision would also apply to those convicted of violent, threatening or
anti-social behaviour.

Mr Blake said he believed Dublin Corporation was the only local authority
in the State to have used this power under the legislation.

"If this is passed, I will be asking that the motion be circulated to all
the other local authorities in the country," he said.

He said he believed the measure was necessary because the drug problem was
growing throughout Donegal. He has also campaigned for a special Garda drug
unit to be set up in the county, similar to one in Sligo.

Mr Blake said councillors had supported his call for such a unit, and he
believed they would also support tonight's motion. "At least if this rule
is there it has to be a deterrent, because our courts certainly aren't," he
added.