INTRODUCTION

In this assignment there will be brief report of just finished work placement, critical
analysis of the variety of services given to the clients and how such services can be
improved further more one will extend the discussion to the broader policy making level
and finally in a critical manner one will assess the current policies in the field of social
care that is closely related to the work placement.

I did work experience placement in a community trust that was founded in 1986 working
primarily with disadvantaged men from Ballyfermot area and by extension, their parents,
partners and children. The organization has special care for those returning from
imprisonment for individuals returning to their community, men with drug and alcohol
abuse problems, Homeless, People with mental health problems and unemployed as a
result of drug and alcohol abuse, The organization has contact with prisons through the
probation and welfare services, community prison liaison officer, chaplains and directly
with prison Governors. (Matt Talbot community Trust. 2009)

The organization is non-governmental organization but they receive grants and support
from government and private donation, they run a daily community employment
program, which is centered on education, training and preparing community members to
move forward towards further training education also the organization has a FETAC
accredited centre, they have several courses running including food and cookery,
woodwork, communication and basic computers training other relevant courses includes
communication skills. There are six members of paid staff that includes the Director of
the organization who is also a member of the board of trustees, three voluntary staffs and
1 part time counselor who comes every Wednesday to attend to people with alcohol and
drug problems. (Matt Talbot Community Trust, 2009)

The organization has links with probation services and sort to maintain and strengthen
their contacts with the local probation officers so as to enhance the reintegration and
resettlement of ex-offenders back into the communities, since most of the ex-prisoners
are hooked on drugs and alcohol which is a major contributory factors underlying
offending behaviors, the organization in conjunction with probation service offer a
challenging but supportive environment where people can address problematic behaviour
and as consequence contribute positively to the community. The organization is also
liaising with Health Service Executive (HSE) to give help to those with drug and alcohol
related addiction and homelessness. Therefore the HSE on behave of Ministry of health
act to support the organization financial needs, so as to help the clients also ministry of
Justice and law reform through Prison and probation service contribute and monitored the
activities of the organization in addition to this FAS also assist in giving training and
support to the organization. They act as catalyst for their clients; they are social partners
who work with government and government agencies to decide on the future of public
policy in their area of involvements. (Matt Talbot community trust, 2009)
The organization has three hours counseling in a week for the clients which I think is not
enough, the organization should increase the hours of counseling in other to get better
results, also the numbers of divertory activities should be increased to include physical
activities further more the training of the clients need improvement, the number of the
staff can be increase mostly in the computer training section and wood work.

Section 20 of the 2005 safety health and welfare at work act requires that employers
prepare a statements, which must describe the organization and physical arrangements for
safety, assignment of responsibilities to individuals and statement of the cooperation of
the staff and visitors to maintain those standards. The organization safety statement is the
comprehensive detail of health and safety procedures which include the assignment of
responsibilities for safety and health, organization measures, specific measures for
control arrangement for dealing with fire and other emergencies and general provisions
for safety.

The 2005 act make it the duty of employer to instruct, train and supervise the employee
in respect of safety, health and welfare, the employer also have duty to protect persons
other than their employees. for example SHWA 2005 Section 2 (6) For the purposes of
the relevant statutory provisions, “reasonably practicable”, in relation to the duties of an
employer, means that an employer has exercised all due care by putting in place the
necessary protective and preventive measures, having identified the hazards and assessed
the risks to safety and health likely to result in accidents or injury to health at the place of
work concerned and where the putting in place of any further measures is grossly
disproportionate having regard to the unusual, unforeseeable and exceptional nature of
any circumstance or occurrence that may result in an accident at work or injury to health
at that place of work.

The organization tried as much as possible to comply with health and safety regulation
everything that suppose to be in place are in place such things as safety statement, fire
alarm and fire equipments, first aid box, air extractor in the kitchen, training for the staffs
and clients as required by the 2005 health and safety act; that does not mean that there is
no flaw or flaws but the only visible one during my work experience is the lack of toilets
for people with physical disabilities , the men toilet is not equipped with hand railing for
people with disabilities and that may cause accident or injuries to anyone with physical
disability who might wants to use the toilet.

The organization work with ex-offender or those having trouble with the law, homeless
people, alcohol and ex-drug addicts hence there are statutory policies which the
organization must adhere to in other to function within the scope of state and E.U law.
The state government in 1996 unveiled National alcohol policy and in the previous year
endorsed European data on alcohol and European action plan on drug, the main reason of
this policy and endorsement of EU action plan on drug are to ensure effective treatment
services for those adversely affected by alcohol, to protect public, private and working
environments from damage caused by alcohol, to provide information and education
about the potential dangers of alcohol, Support non-governmental organizations that try
to prevent or reduce alcohol-related harm and to formulate a broad-based national
alcohol policy and monitor progress.

The majority of the clients at the organization are long time unemployed due to drug
addiction or incarceration as a result of crime and drug misuse, some of them have mental
problems due to long time alcohol and drug misuse State government has various social
policies and initiatives designs to address the problems arise as a result of drug use and
involvement of crime, to look at it one after the other starting from drug policy, since
drug use has been a major concerns in Ireland, drug use are associated with crimes,
medical problems such as transmission of AIDS and HIV, sudden death and mental
health problems.

During the 1960s and 1970s, the use of amphetamines and LSD appeared to be the main
drug problem in Ireland. Policy responses included the formation of the Garda Drug
Squad, the establishment of the National Advisory and Treatment Centre for Drug Abuse
and the enactment of the Misuse of Drugs Act in 1977. However, the early 1980s
witnessed a growth in heroin use in inner city areas and other deprived communities in
Dublin also gang killing was rampant all these were related to drug use and control of
drug market among the various criminal gangs. A number of Government Committees
were established, which recommended the introduction of a series of legislative
provisions. In addition, a number of educational, structural, community and youth
services and treatment changes were recommended, including the setting up of the
National Co-coordinating Committee on Drug Abuse in 1985 and the subsequent
strengthening of the co-operation between the enforcement agencies, in particular, An
Garda Síochána, Customs and Excise and the Naval Services. Notwithstanding these
developments, still, the drug problem continued to increase in scale and scope, especially
in deprived communities. (Cassin & O’Mahony, 2006)

In order to tackle the problems at the highest level National coordinating committee was
re-constituted and strengthening in 1990 under the sponsorship of Department of Health,
a strategy was put in place based on four pillars of supply reduction; demand reduction;
man power training and development and international cooperation. The committee
recommended measures to implement the strategies which are (i) better co-ordination
between statutory and voluntary agencies in the provision of services; (ii) involvement by
general practitioners; (iii) increased powers for enforcement agencies; (iv) the
development of a Drug Education Programme for schools and colleges; (v) in-service
training for teachers; (vi) the establishment of Community Drug Teams under the
auspices of the Health Boards and (vii) the creation of links between the educational,
treatment and community services and the prisons. (O’ Mahony, 1993)

In 1996, due to the persistent misused of drug mostly heroin and crack cocaine
Government responded to public outcry, a Ministerial Task force on measure to reduce
the demand for drugs was set up to deliver integrated range of services covering
treatments, rehabilitation, education and prevention. The first report of the task force
focus on the causes of the drug use which are social and economic disadvantage;
unemployment and poor living conditions; which has the consequences that include, a
life of crime and associated prison records, ill-health, poor employment prospects,
deterioration in the quality of life, low educational attainment, high levels of family
breakdown and the commonness of communicable diseases. The report estimated value
from the treatment statistics to establish heroin addiction trends and suggested that there
were approximately 8,000 heroin addicts in the greater Dublin area at that time.

The Local Drug Task Forces (LDTFs) were set up in areas identified as having the
highest levels of drug misuse. At first, 12 LDTFs were established in the Greater Dublin
area: North Inner City, South Inner City, Ballymun, Ballyfermot, Finglas/Cabra, Dublin
12 (Crumlin, Drimnagh, Kimmage and Walkinstown), Dublin North East, Canal
Communities (Bluebell, Inchicore and Rialto), Blanchardstown, Clondalkin, Tallaght and
Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown. An LDTF was also set up in North Cork City, where the
emphasis is primarily on prevention. Following a review of the LDTFs in 1999, Bray was
designated as a Task Force area. (National drug strategies, 2001). LDTFs provide a
system for the coordination of services in these areas, while at the same time allowing
local communities and voluntary organizations to participate in the planning, design and
delivery of those services. Membership of the LDTFs include representatives of all the
relevant agencies such as the Health service executive, the Gardai, the Probation and
Welfare Service, the relevant Local Authority, elected public representatives, the Youth
Service and FÁS. In addition, LDTFs also include representation from voluntary
agencies, community representatives, a chairperson nominated by the local Area
Partnership and a coordinator provided by the relevant Health service executive. (Local
Drug Task Forces 2010)

In 1997 second Ministerial Task force report was released, it focused on the nationwide
use of drugs other than heroin, such as cannabis and ecstasy, drug misuse in prisons and
the need for authoritative research to inform the Government’s policy on drugs. It
recommended the training and employment of youth leaders from disadvantaged
communities under the FÁS Community Employment Programme and other social
economy measures; the development of properly supervised treatment programmes for
“low risk” offenders who misuse drugs and are convicted of petty crimes, as an
alternative to prison; the continued development of education/awareness initiatives,
including the expansion of substance misuse prevention/education programmes in
primary and second level schools.

Under the 1997 Housing Act, the Department of the Environment and Local Government
provides financial support to local authorities for housing management activities and
other initiatives, on local authority estates, which are associated with problems of drug-
related crime and anti-social behaviors (Housing Miscellaneous Provision act, 1997)

Government in his effort has enacted many legislatives and criminal law to reduce and
eradicate the supply of drugs in our society; this is known as legislative and criminal
justice measures, in 1994 criminal justice act was passed which allow Seizure &
confiscation of assets derived from the proceeds of drug trafficking Money laundering
international mutual assistance in criminal matters section 9 (1) of criminal Justice act,
1994. In 1996 Drug trafficking act was in forced which allow the detention of any person
suspected of drug trafficking for up to 7 days, in the same year criminal assets bureau act
was signed this is the establishment of criminal assets bureau (CAB) other acts are
proceed of crime acts 1996 which allow the freezing and forfeiture of the proceed of
crime, disclosure of certain information for taxation or other purpose act 1996, bail act
1997 allow for the refusal of a bail to a person who has been charged with serious offence
and Drug trafficking act 1999 gives mandatory minimum 10 year sentence for drug
trafficking.( http://www.irishstatutebook.ie/1994/en/act/pub/0015/sec0009.html#sec9
access on 15/01/2011)

Other measures taking was the establishment of drug court in January 2001in the North
inner city of Dublin the primary aims of the drug court is to reduce crime through
rehabilitation of the offender, to help the offender break the cycle of offending with the
ultimate objective of ending all criminal activities. Fas works closely with the voluntary
organization, community and state sectors on projects aims at prevention, treatments and
rehabilitation, its run a specific programme which are drug related this includes special
drug community employments programme also it provide a number of advocate for drug
addicts and ex-offenders in the community.(National Youth Council of Ireland,.1998)

When it comes to the treatment of drug misusers, government has put in place a lot of
treatment and rehabilitation programme such as needle exchange this is to prevent
transmitting diseases such as HIV and AIDS virus. In addition there have been significant
developments in the delivery of services to drug misusers through GP and pharmacy-
based services in the past five years. Currently, there are 216 pharmacies and 157 GPs
participating in the methadone protocol, the highest number since its introduction in
1998. (Office of the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs) over 340 projects are being
developed as part of the YPFSF, this is young people’s facilities and service fund which
was established in 1998 in recognition of the important role that diversionary activities
(diverting attention), such as involvement in sport and recreation, can have on young
people at risk of drug misuse; further more a joint policy on prison-based drug treatment
services has been agreed between the Prisons Service and the HSE and is being
implemented at present. (Jeffro et.al )

Treatments government is sponsoring through their agencies and voluntary organizations

are detoxification; this is to eliminate opiate and other drugs from the body.
Detoxification is carried out for a range of drugs is conducted by either gradually
reducing the dosage or rapidly stopping the dosage until the individual is drug free.
Treatment generally continues until all withdrawal symptoms have diminished others are
Methadone maintenance programmes, Methadone Reduction Programmes, In-Patient
Treatment Services, Residential Services and counseling. (Nurses addiction Network,
2000)

In December 2010, government released a budget for 2011 this has changed a lot of
things in this area; most of these agencies and voluntaries organization are affected with
the budget cuts, according to an organization known as wheels in depth, “2011 budgets.
is the fourth in the set of austerity budgets introduced following the initial economic
collapse of September 2008 (previous budgets being December 2008, April 2009 and
December 2009).” These set budgetary policy on a period of reduction until a recovery
in 2011 and a restoration of normal budgeting by 2014.The second economic collapse of
autumn 2010, leading to the €85bn rescue package agreed with the European financial
institutions and the International Monetary Fund in November 2010 set budgetary policy
on a course of severe reduction, €15bn over 4 years, so as to reduce debt as a proportion
of Gross Domestic Products (GDP) to 3% by 2014, with €6bn to be made in the 2011
budget.(finfact teams, 2011)

The budget cuts will have social impact on the vulnerable in the society, it will cause
considerable hardship for the poor in Irish society, Those affected are those who are most
vulnerable, for they are often the poorest, most marginalized and with the least political
influence: those on low incomes, dependent on social welfare, people with physical or
intellectual disabilities, or living on the margins of society, such as homeless people,
refugee, asylum seekers and Travellers. There is general reduction on social welfare,
reduction in child benefits, weekly reduction in fas training allowance, reduction in VTO
bonus. There is a danger that the budget will create a number of poverty traps possibly
the most severe poverty trap is for those whose income is just above the qualification
level of the medical card with its attendant benefits and entitlements but whose incomes
are low and are bringing up children. (Taylor, 2010)

The budget 2011also has serious effects on social policy most of which can be found in
departmental estimates the social housing budget is down by 36%, The regeneration
budget, which is attempting to rebuild the shattered communities of Limerick and inner
city Dublin, is down by 15%, The budget for the Irish Youth Justice Service, which is
essential to help young people at risk of offending, is reduced by 24%, Prison education
services are vital for the rehabilitation of offenders down by 24%, The Department of
Environment, Heritage and Local Government budget for community and social
inclusion is reduced 47% and Funding for sport in disadvantaged areas in the Department
of Tourism, Sport and culture was €395,000 in 2010 but nothing this year.

Further more the budget has serious effect on the community and voluntary organization
the burdens which fall on those government departments that sponsors those
organization, The Health Service Executive budget, which is the largest funder of
voluntary and community organizations, is down from €7.664bn to €7.249bn, 6%, which
is likely to lead to a funding cut for these organizations at least that level. The level of
HSE grants to voluntary hospitals is reduced by 7%,
(http://www.hse.ie/eng/services/Publications/corporate/nsp2011.pdf)

The Local and Community Development Programme is reduced by 6%, Action against
drugs is led by voluntary and community organizations. The main fund is provided by the
Department of Community, Equality and Gaeltacht Affairs and it is cut from €401.718m
to €350.698m, reduction of 13%. (http://www.pobail.ie/en/PressReleases/htmltext) The
Department of Education and Skills contribution to local drugs task forces is reduced
from €2.4m to €899,000, 63% (Meade, 2010)
In conclusion, the 2011 budget will do more harms than good; people on high income are
making little contribution towards the economic recovery on 2011 budget while the
impact on people with low pay and those on social welfare is much greater than higher
earners in forming my own opinion government should have secure better value for
money in the delivery of our public services and pointed out that while targeted
expenditure cuts were undoubtedly required in Budget 2011, vulnerable people should
have been protected..

Reference:
• Cassin, S. & O’Mahony, P. (2006) ‘Criminal Justice Drug Policy in Ireland’.
Policy Paper 1, Dublin. Drug Policy Action Group.
• Finfact teams access on 15/01/2010 @
http://www.finfacts.ie/irishfinancenews/article_1020880.shtml
• Local Drug Task Force (2010) Handbook, A Local Response To The Drug
Problems, Dublin: Department of Tourism, Sport and Recreation

• Ruddle, H., Prizeman, G. and Jaffro, G. (2000) Evaluation of Local Drugs Task
Force Projects. National College of Ireland, Policy Research Centre.
• Matt Talbot Community Trust (2009) Annual Repots, Dublin: MTCT

• Meade, P. (2010) The wheel’s in-depth Analysis of Budget 2011 The impact of
budgetary changes on the voluntary and community sector and those whom it
serves: Dublin. The wheel.

• National Youth Council of Ireland. (1998).Youth and drugs – The NYCI drugs
policy. Dublin: NYCI

• Nurses Addiction Network (2000).Conference “Cocaine, an emerging problem”.

Clontarf Castle, .

• O’ Mahony, P. (1993).Crime and Punishment in Ireland. Dublin: The Round Hall

Press

• Taylor, C (2010) HSE Budgets plan for 2011, Dublin: Irish Times

• (http://www.pobail.ie/en/PressReleases/htmltext,10679,en.html access on
04/01/2011)

• (http://www.hse.ie/eng/services/Publications/corporate/nsp2011.pdf) access on
10/01/2011
• http://www.irishstatutebook.ie/1994/en/act/pub/0015/sec0009.html#sec9 access
on 15/01/2011