RESIDENTS of Dublin's north inner city have started setting up committees to work with the Garda and Dublin Corporation to keep drug dealers out.
More than 500 anti drugs protesters attended a meeting on Thursday night in Rutland Street School, off Summerhill, to discuss the formation of residents'
in blocks of flats in the area. It was followed by a peaceful anti drugs march to Hardwicke Street flats.
The meeting was organised by the Inner City Organisations Network (ICON), which represents more than 50 community groups and has been campaigning for a comprehensive response to the drugs problem for several years. It was attended by the Independent TD, Mr Tony Gregory, and the Labour TD, Mr Joe Costello.
The chairman of ICON, Mr Fergus McCabe, urged people to "form a united front against the drug scourge".
Mr James Lee, a community worker with Dublin Corporation, told the meeting it was corporation policy to take into account the opinions of residents when allocating flats in the area. He urged residents to form committees to work with the corporation to prevent vacant flats being allocated to drug dealers.
Residents of the Mountain View Court flats complex, where gardai arrested three alleged drug dealers last week, recently set up a committee, the meeting was told. Two people were evicted from the flats last week, and new tenants approved by the committee had moved in, a spokesman said.
Following last week's arrests, the car of an alleged drug dealer was attacked and set on fire. Riot police and anti drugs protesters later clashed and one woman was treated in hospital. Thursday night's meeting was the second in the area since those disturbances.
ICON yesterday condemned the response of some sections of the Garda to last week's protests.