Roscrea Stands Up (RSU) will hold its 5th public meeting on Friday night 21st November at 7.30pm, the meeting will take place in the Abbey hall, this meeting will conclude at 9pm.
On Monday 21st July we held our first public meeting, since then a lot of things have happened in Roscrea, there was a lot of media coverage, local, National and International, while a handfull of people didn’t approve of Roscrea issues being made public, 99.9% of Roscrea people felt that it needed to be publicised, as there were things happening in the town that were not good.
At our first public meeting 550 people were in attendence, people at the meeting expressed their controlled anger over the high unemployment rate in Roscrea, lack of facilities for the youth,the amount of small businesses that were forced to close, talk of the Garda station becoming a 12 hour station, lack of Garda presence on the streets of Roscrea. People said our public representatives had forgotten about Roscrea for the last 30 years
But the 3 issues that the people of Roscrea were most angered and upset by were;
1. Suicide Rate: The high rate of suicide over the last number of years especially among the younger members of our communities.
2. Mental Health: People felt there was a lack of mental health facilities suitable for the needs of Roscrea people.
3. Drug Problem: However the issue that angered people the most , was the drug problem in Roscrea and local areas, family members gave harrowing first hand accounts of how their loved ones and friends had destroyed their own lives and the lives of others through illegal drug use and addiction. At the meeting it was decided to keep having public meetings until the people of Roscrea got resolutions to these issues.
To date, the Gardai have had a number of successful raids, public representatives have done some valuable things, NTLP have been invaluable, more residents groups have been formed, the farm relief service have made a jobs announcement, 5 Government Ministers have come to Roscrea and met with members of the RSU working groups.
RSU has now established 6 working groups.
Youth Action,Drug and Alcohol, Business and Training, Housing and Environment, Junior Tidy Towns and Mental health, these groups have made great progress in trying to solve our towns issues. There are 52 organisations in Roscrea, so far 49 of these have pledged there support to RSU, as was evident at a recent expo held in Colaiste Phobal secondary school, we received great support from individuals and businesses both Roscrea and further afield.
On Monday night 24th November at 8pm in the abbey Hall, NTLP, in association with Roscrea Stands Up, are hosting an information evening about depression, Francis Black and Conor Cusack will give a talk on how they cope with depression in their lives. This is a free event, anyone wishing to attend should contact 0505 23379 as booking is essential.
At our public meeting this coming Friday, the people of Roscrea will be asked to vote on 3 different proposals, for further information please contact 0868547240.
