We look at the stories that were making the headlines in the Andersonstown News this week in 1984
Concern over Twinbrook anti-social behaviour
JUST under 100 people attended a meeting in the Brook Activity Centre, Twinbrook to discuss the growing problems of crime and anti-social behaviour in the area.
Representatives of the Church, Sinn Féin, the Workers’ Party, the Probation Service and the local schools were among those present at the meeting which had been called by the local Twinbrook Tenants’ and Community Association.
Following a vigorous debate, locals decided to call a second meeting for Monday October 10th, and a special effort will be made to attract more people.
Local parish priest Fr Mullan outlined the great problems associated with crime in Twinbrook and spoke of the necessity of parental control. Parents, he said, must help if the community is to prevent their children from misbehaving.
He called for unity amongst the community in the campaign against lawlessness and thanked both the TTCA and all those who attended.
Dinny Lochlan, Damien Gibney and Frank Liddy of the Tenants’ Association chaired the meeting. They explained the work undertaken so far by the TTCA to battle anti-social behaviour by providing more facilities for young people, but stressed more residents would have to become involved if they were to seriously tackle anti-social behaviour.
Members of NIACRO and the probation service detailed their activities with the area's After-Schools Project. The meeting also heard that negotiations are taking place with the aim of obtaining an area of land from the old De Lorean factory to use as a base for an auto project. Local St Colm's school teachers, Mrs Carville and Mark Duffy, also addressed the meeting.
A representative of Sinn Féin said a broad-based committee was essential if the residents were to succeed in their attempts to talk with the parents of vandals and the vandals themselves. He differentiated between the hardcore criminals who inflicted suffering on the community and thrived on their criminal activities, and an element among local youth who while involved in antisocial behaviour could still be helped by the community.
Editorial: New Irish nurseries in Belfast
THE two new Irish speaking nursery schools just started in Ardoyne and Twinbrook ensure that people in North, South, East and West Belfast now have an opportunity to make their children bi-lingual without having to travel long distances to do so.
The academic advantages of bilingualism can be argued out elsewhere, but as an exercise in constructive nationalism, the formation of an Irish nursery school would be hard to beat. Over the past ten years or so, dozens of Irish speaking nursery schools have been springing up all over the country, and although Belfast was to the forefront in this new resurgence of interest in Irish education, it took somewhat longer for the numbers to increase like they did in Dublin, Cork and other urban cities in the 26 Counties.
But it's better late than never, and the stage has been reached in Belfast where some sort of umbrella group is needed to co-ordinate the efforts of those involved in nursery schools and assist those thinking of starting up a nursery in other areas. There is already a nursery and primary school in Derry, and there must be an opportunity to start others in some of the larger towns of the Six Counties with sizeable nationalist populations. Newry, Dungannon, Omagh, Strabane Enniskillen, Lurgan and Downpatrick readily spring to mind as possible growth areas for new Irish nursery schools.
At the moment there is a vast amount of interest in, and goodwill towards the Irish language, and this opportunity should not be lost to set up a network of self-perpetuating growth areas centred on the nursery school. It is so obvious that it seems ridiculous to even state it, that if the Irish language is ever again to become the chosen language of a representative section of the Irish people, then education through Irish from nursery level up, is an absolute necessity.
As far as the language is concerned, two four-year-olds are worth 50 40-year-olds, and maybe it is about time that Comhaltas Uladh, the "official" Irish language organisation in the Six Counties, got directly involved in the nursery school programme, something which they have been content to leave to others up until now. The time would seem to be ripe for major advances in this field, and "official" backing would make it much easier.
ALL ABORD: Fr Liam Mullan, Parish Priest of St Luke's made the draw for the ballot at the Bridini Parents' Night disco in the Hitchin' Post. The committee were raising money for a minibus
New Lodge survey
THE results of a unique survey which has been carried out in the New Lodge area shows that a number of elderly or disabled residents are living in unsuitable accommodation.
The survey, which was carried out by Sinn Féin, revealed 17 cases of severe hardship due to the lack of proper dwellings for the infirm.
These cases, which have now been passed onto the Housing Executive for further investigation, include:
A 76-year-old woman who has difficulty climbing stairs. As she wants to stay with her neighbours rather than live in a pensioner dwelling, she needs a double banister and a downstairs toilet.
A husband and wife, both of whom suffer from chronic heart condition. Though both are in hospital at the minute, on their release they will require ground floor accommodation because they can't cope with the stairs in their house.
A woman with amputated legs who sleeps in her parlour because she cannot manage the stairs. She, too, needs ground floor accommodation.
A husband and wife who need ground floor accommodation because the husband suffers from a severe eye disability while his wife suffers from artritis.
The report also notes that in many cases elderly or disabled people living in unsatisfactory conditions were unwilling to move home. In particular, it lists the example of an 86-year-old woman who lives on the eleventh floor of a high-rise flat. Local Sinn Féin spokesman Bobby Lavery met with Housing Executive representatives last week to discuss the implications of the survey.
"I felt the local Executive staff sympathise with the plight of the old and handicapped in the New Lodge," he said. "However, at the end of the day, their attempts to improve housing conditions are blocked by the overall planning considerations and cut-backs."
Mr Lavery suggested the Executive build a block of single storey dwellings, or possibly in Newington, to cater for the elderly. He also stressed the importance of the Executive consulting with pensioners before it started any developments for pensioners dwellings.
