Why has Youthlinks been vandalised asks Board

The premises on Market Street provides accommodation for a range of service providers, who work towards delivering support services for young people and their families in the Ballycastle area.

Activities which could potentially be affected if attacks are sustained are the Tuesday Drop In, the Film Club, Causeway Women’s Aid outreach provision and Youth Justice work with young individuals.

The Community Safety Wardens also use this central location as their work base. In the past two years activities in the building have provided training in a range of skills including DJing and Film making. Educational programmes have been delivered to provide young people with awareness of Drug and alcohol misuse issues, fire safety, money management and support and guidance towards signposting young people into a variety of training and personal development opportunities.

“We really can not understand why our building has been vandalised” said Chair person Frank Nealis” over the past two years access to the building have meant an increase in the support and recreational services available to young people in the area, we are at a loss to understand why anyone would want to put that at risk Being a charity Youthlinks has difficulty finding the funds to repeatedly replace windows or deal with the unnecessary costs of criminal damage.”

The Board would request that anyone who has information about these attacks contacts the local police (0845 600 8000) or alternatively provide the information to the independent charity Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111. They are also keen to discuss any issues any residents, including young people have with the building or any activities that are provided. Contact can be made with the Youthlinks Board by calling 028 2076 9752.