By Paul McElwee

A Strabane father whose 15-year-old son arrived home drunk at the weekend has slammed a taxi firm which he says illegally supplied him with alcohol.

The alcohol was brought to an address in Summerhill Court, where a group of friends had congregated on Saturday night.

Sean McGrinder, the father of the 15-year-old, said local taxi drivers needed to take a more responsible attitude when delivering alcohol.

Mr McGrinder said, "My son is only fifteen. He was supposed to be home by 10pm Saturday but came home at 10.45pm, which was bad enough. When he came in he could hardly stand he was so drunk. After about ten minutes I got it out of him what had happened.

"I found out who the taxi firm was and the name of the driver who had supplied the group with the alcohol in the first place. I have since spoken with the firm and the taxi driver, who have apologised for the incident."

Mr McGrinder said that the person who answered the door to the taxi driver was only the same age as his son, and said he found it amazing that the driver did not realise that when looking at them.

"I said to the driver, 'Why did you even give them the alcohol?'. After all, the person that opened the door to take the alcohol was only the same age as my son. It is not like it was an older person or someone who looked older than they are. I know the young person who took the alcohol from the taxi driver and I can assure you, they neither are, nor do they look over eighteen.

"The driver should have looked at the person at the door and asked if they were over eighteen or at the very least asked for identification. It is a problem that I believe needs highlighted."

Meanwhile, local Sinn Fein councillor Jarlath McNulty said immediate steps needed to be taken to address the current levels of alcohol abuse among young people.

"Firstly, I would like to say that the people who take drink out to the young people must realise the impact they are having on the people of Strabane.

"What they are doing is wrong. It is illegal for anyone under the age of 18 to take alcohol as we all know.

"I have spoken to the father of the young person involved and he is obviously extremely upset and angry at the firm involved, and he thinks they should have had more sense."

Mr McNulty also bemoaned the amount of alcohol readily available today, adding that something needs be done to help young people.

"Something really has to be done to curb the amount of alcohol available in today's society. There is far too much available and that must be looked at. Community groups in Strabane are doing what they can to stop under-age drinking in Strabane as best they can. We have programmes in place in Strabane to speak out about the dangers of under-age drinking but incidents like this undermine what these programmes try to do.

"I feel it is important that we highlight this because, only by highlighting it will we get it stopped," Mr McNulty said.