Horsepower Project aims to prevent anti-social behaviour locally
A YOUTH scheme in Cherry Orchard aimed at preventing young people from getting involved in anti-social behaviour is looking for funding for a permanent West Dublin base after a six-year effort.
The Horsepower Project strives to improve horse welfare in an area that has ‘a huge tradition and culture of horse ownership’, and ultimately aims to build stables on a small patch of land in Cherry Orchard – where videos of a large group of young people cheering on joyriders as they rammed a Garda car shocked the country this week.
Justice Minister Helen McEntee visited Cherry Orchard on Friday to condemn the incident and meet with local representatives. She vowed to increase Garda resources in the area, but added: ‘Beyond that we support the community in making sure that the right type of resources, the right type of supports, and the right type of comprehensive community response is in place.’
She pledged an investment of €135,000 that has been confiscated by the
Criminal Assets Bureau to youth projects in the area.
Brendan Cummins, a youth work project leader with community support group FamiliBase – which initiated the Horsepower Project – was among those who met the Minister.
He told the Irish Mail on Sunday the meeting ‘left no doubt that we need a long-term intervention and not another band aid’, and said the funding announced would ‘continue to provide community initiatives for young people like the Horsepower Project’.
Explaining the genesis of the original project to the MoS, he said: ‘We took a group of young people that were involved in antisocial behaviour similar to what we saw earlier in the week, and we engaged them in a process.
‘It was at the time of the rapidbuild houses in Cherry Orchard, and cars were getting driven into the houses as they were being built.’
The young people involved in the early stages, mainly in their late teens, helped put together a proposal and gave presentations for a number of stakeholders including Dublin City Council (DCC) and Tusla.
‘What we really did was we gave them a voice and we used our own influence to encourage their voice to be heard,’ said Mr Cummins. ‘Within that, their own self-esteem helped them grow into the community – made them a positive part of a community, rather than the standing around part.’
He said ‘the majority’ of the young people involved are now in employment, with some starting families of their own.
The Horsepower Project has been cited in DCC’s ParkwestCherry Orchard Local Area Plan as a possible use for an available plot of land, and the group has had an experienced equine architect do up drawings and a surveyor cost the build. It is now in talks with DCC and the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine to secure funding to have the stables built.
In the meantime, the project continues to engage young horse owners in the community and recruit them into horse care courses, run in conjunction with the Dublin Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.
Course leader Katie Kelly, 21, told the MoS: ‘I enjoy teaching young people how to best look after their horses.’
The tiny horses seen in our photos are fully grown mixed breeds, which allow younger enthusiasts to start earlier.
‘It’d be very disheartening if [the stables] didn’t go ahead,’ Mr Cummins said.
‘What the project has shown so far is that when you engage in a process the right thing can happen. But if it wasn’t successful, it would say to the community you can engage in a process so far and then we’re going to pull the rug.’
FamiliBase community initiatives lead David McGovern told the MoS: ‘Members of
‘What we did was we gave them a voice’
Horsepower have become active citizens within their community by volunteering at community events such as our Familibase Youth service summer programmes, supporting community groups with events like a pre-election night where community members met candidates running for election.’
Ballyfermot-Drimnagh People Before Profit Councillor Hazel de Nortúin told the MoS a more long-term vision and committed investment is required to tackle anti-social behaviour in disadvantaged constituencies.
She said that the FamiliBase group has ‘been screaming out for a year now for funding for an outreach worker to deal with these particular lads that they knew joyriding was becoming an issue with’.