It was Cllr Billy Page who once again drew our attention to the 'down and outs', the young and old who have given up on the world and indeed the world has given up on them. They are the human beings we rush past as they lie on the streets, or cross to the other side to avoid contact with them. In a City noted for its generosity and charity world wide, these desperate human beings, cannot find a place at the Inn.

There are many reasons, some very complex, why people have to sleep rough. Not all of them are connected to the consumption of alcohol as we have heard over the past few days. But the majority are and as the wife and Mother of the young man who died explained, those who suffer such addiction, are in need of specialised help, help that the excellent facilities such as the Northlands Centre or the House in the Wells the Methodist Mission cannot provide, mainly because collectively we have written off the human beings who need our help most.

In the first instance the responsibility for a situation that reduces human beings to physical and mental wrecks, has to be laid at the door of the drinks industry and the Government, who enjoy huge profits from the sale of alcohol but give little back.

Some years ago a study on alcohol addiction concluded it was not a psychological disease; therefore it couldn't be treated by a psychiatric response.

The study also concluded that the abuse of alcohol is not related to ones character, emotional problems or difficulties with family nor is it a moral shortcoming. In other words there is no such thing as an addictive personality.

Members of Alcoholic Anonymous, who have lived with addiction and understand it, ascribe alcoholism as a full-blown disease and believe that those suffering from it need to be treated and helped.

Some people describe alcohol addiction as a physical medical condition, which can only be treated by those who understand the condition and are not dependent on the alcohol industry for research. Whatever it is and the jury's out on the definitive answer, there is evidence that alcohol in itself is a powerful depressant drug, which slows down the body's major functions, diminishes motor coordination, judgment, emotional control and reasoning powers. Excessive consumption over long periods can lead not only to addiction but also to heart disease, stroke, brain, liver damage, cancer, and premature death.

If a shop or chemist or a person sold or administered any compound that would produce the above named symptoms in a human being, they would under the law of the land, be arrested and charged with at least, grievous bodily harm or assault.

But we live in a society where the Courts for years has dispensed licences with impunity to pubs, clubs, off sales, restaurants and indeed it seems anyone who wants to sell this highly addictive and dangerous drug.

The legal process is presided over and regulated by the police.
In this city of some 103,000 human beings, the drink industry is alive and kicking as many of the victims of over indulgence can testify. They have the steel plates in their heads to prove it.

Derry has 174 licensed premises, which includes pubs, clubs, hotels, and off sales.

That excludes Supermarkets and other chain stores. So it's no wonder that the ever-increasing availability of alcohol is a contributory factor in the number of human beings we see daily lying on our streets, and they appear to be getting younger each year.

One would almost conclude that the latest Government proposals to increase the opening hours of pubs and clubs, shows a desire by new Labour to preside over a society permanently inebriated After all if you are pissed out of your mind most of the time, you are in no position to challenge the power of Government. It's called social control.

In years gone by, the alcoholic was the older man, and the rare woman, whom one saw occasionally when the pubs closed. Of course there was abuse of alcohol by adults but it was curtailed by the Church through the ritual of the compulsory taking of the 'Pledge', were you promised to abstain from alcoholic drink until you reached the age of eighteen.

After that you were expected to become a member of the Pioneer society and many young people did. Drinking to excess was taboo and young women at dances would refuse to dance with any male whose breath smelled of alcohol.

Despite all the controls there was abuse and its effects were hidden behind the closed doors of the homes and the silent suffering of the wives and children of what was described then as the 'heavy drinker.'

Social drinking was confined to a wee tot at weddings or Christmas or wakes, which had a lot to do with the climate or the emotional circumstances of the occasion. Those days have gone and we are now confronted with a cultural future of in your face drinking habits and abuse of alcohol by many of our citizens, young and old, male and female.

The constant headlines of the abuse, the scourge of underage drinking, not only in Derry but also in Ireland generally, has contributed to an image of a society that has abandoned its self respect, pride and confidence.

We see the evidence in the vomit strewn footpaths, and we hear the language associated with over indulgence; getting stoned, pulling a sicky, and scored' meaning to have sex with someone you probably couldn't see, because you were too drunk.

We were warned in 2001 in a shocking report published by the Department of Health that fifteen year olds in this City get drunk regularly. The Director of Northlands told us that Derry had developed a culture of binge drinking.

That was five years ago and yet underage drinking is now an established cult among our children and is directly connected to the ongoing violence, where young people drunk out of their skulls beat, stab, and kick the heads of each other.

The question is how and why? There is no doubt that off sales, despite the denials of the Vintners, is mainly responsible for the blue bag gatherings in back lanes, fields, empty premises, and anywhere that affords the underage drinker the opportunity to consume vast quantities of alcohol brought about by adds, which tells them that its cool to live life to the power of Vodka, or WKD or whatever.

They have already established the method of supply and delivery. Many people know the booze and binge run transport system that delivers alcohol anywhere any time. And equally people know the off licences that sell it to the underage. The real tragedy is the culture of silence, which protects those engaged in such unsavoury and criminal activity.

There should be no place in this City for people who exploit the innocence of our children for they are in grave danger of becoming tomorrows 'rough sleepers' lying in doorways, cut and bruised and bleeding.

Our City fathers talk of alcohol free zones when in reality they mean move those lying at the Post Office or the Guildhall Square, urinating all over themselves and generally abusing everyone around them, for they are an embarrassment to Tourists.

We have all given up on them, families, friends, the Church, the community. They are the visible face of the destructive power of alcohol and those of us who think that our few drinks at the week end or the odd binge could never reduce us to such human wrecks, need to think again.

They too were once decent human beings and only those who loved them and had to watch their descent into the hell of alcoholism, know and understand this.

Meanwhile, they hang around, shifted from place to place to prevent them from congregating in places where they might give offence to tourists or high flying members of the Vintners Association. So where do the street alcoholics go?

The excellent House in the Wells is permanently full. The much-acclaimed Haven kicks them out at 5 o'clock. They are at the bottom of the bottom of the pile of humanities rejects. The fourteen-year-old drinker in the back lane would do well to go and look at them because' that may be you in a few short years.'

Meanwhile, the Pub and Club owners, the Licensed Vintners Association, the City Centre Initiative, the RUC/PSNI blame everyone; Parents, the Council and the licensing laws and protest that they are doing everything possible to address the problem. And maybe they are but here are a few additions to the' everything.'

How about campaigning for a total ban on advertisements for alcohol, in the print and electronic media and street billboards. How about reducing the opening and closing hours of the off licences. How about closing the clubs you know have violated their licence. How about training back lane wardens and off sales door staff.

How about removing the sale of alcohol from supermarkets. How about the local pub introducing a wider variety of non-alcoholic beverage.
How about a Government that rakes in millions each day from the drink industry, funding the development of the night hostel in Carlisle Road. And if they are really serious, resourcing those organisations that have been at the coalface for too many years and have still to beg yearly for money.

No human being deserves to die in the door of a toilet in a car park. No human being should suffer the pain and isolation of a community because they are different or vulnerable.