Pubdate: Sat, 29 Jul 2000
Source: Irish Independent (Ireland)
Copyright: Independent Newspapers (Ireland) Ltd
Contact:  http://www.independent.ie/
Author: Valerie Cox

TWO DRUG ARRESTS AFTER SAD DEATH OF A `SPIRITED' GIRL

Gardai in Bray, Co Wicklow, have arrested two men in connection with the 
supply of ecstasy in the seaside town.

The men were questioned in Bray Garda station and have been released 
without charge, but a file on the case has been sent to the Director of 
Public Prosecutions.

The arrest came in the wake of the death of a 17-year-old girl last weekend 
after she had taken just one ecstasy tablet.

Alison Davis was the second eldest of four children of John and Eileen 
Davis, who live on the Fassaroe Estate.

Last Friday night the family celebrated Eileen's 51st birthday with a party 
at their home. It was almost 4am before they went to bed, and Alison and a 
couple of her friends slept in the sitting room. At around 10am the 
youngest child in the family, Lilian (7), tried to wake her older sister 
but got no response.

Despite desperate attempts by her parents and neighbours to recussitate 
her, Alison was pronounced dead a short time later at Loughlinstown hospital.

Funeral

Friends of the dead girl later told her parents and gardai that she had 
swallowed just one ecstasy tablet. It was her first time to experiment with 
any drug. She was a keen sportswoman and played GAA on the women's team for 
both Bray Emmets and also for the Co Wicklow team. She had successfully 
completed a coaching diploma and, bearing in mind her love of the sport, 
her parents decided to bury her in her track suit, sporting the Wicklow 
colours.

Representatives of the various sporting bodies she was associated with 
formed a guard of honour at her funeral.

She had spent the early part of her summer holidays from school giving up 
her free time to coach other youngsters from the area. Last night, parents 
on the estate were trying to come to terms with the loss of the girl they 
described as "good-natured, kindness itself."

And while her young charges grieved for their coach, the teachers at St 
Thomas's community college opened the school to provide counselling 
services for her classmates.

Neil OCallaghan, who taught French to Alison, described her as "a very 
spirited girl, opinionated and not afraid to speak her mind."

He said she was well-known in the school and both teachers and pupils were 
still in shock.

Video

Alison's family have always been known as anti-drugs people, and Alison 
herself had fronted a school video which advised young people not to be 
tempted by drugs. Alison's father was one of the organisers of the 
anti-drugs marches on the Fassaroe Estate, an area which has been the 
subject of serious drug-dealing in the past.

Last night John Davis told the Irish Independent that it was about time 
that drug dealers were taken off the streets. "My daughter is in heaven 
now. I only hope that there's a lesson to be learned from this. Even if one 
life is saved, that would be something. I wouldn't put my worst enemy 
through what we went through and what we will have to go through for the 
rest of our lives," he said.

Mr Davis said he had taken the decision to go public on how Alison died 
because he wanted to warn all parents and children of the dangers of 
ecstasy and the fact that even one tablet could sometimes kill.

There are no reliable statistics on the level of ecstasy use in Ireland, 
but in Britain it is estimated that up to 1m tablets are consumed every week.

Alison's parents are now awaiting the results of a toxicology report on 
their daughter.
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