Mr. Martin Callinan:

I will take the phenomenon of grow houses and the trends together. It is certainly the case that in the past number of years we have met with increasing levels of grow houses and that continues to be a worry for us. I mentioned in my opening remarks the nexus between some of our ex-patriots in countries such as Spain and The Netherlands teaming up with some organised criminal groups in those countries and providing opportunities for the east-west transiting of drugs and firearms, and that is naturally of particular concern to us. We work hard in getting the type of intelligence that it is required to take these persons to task and bring them to justice.

On the trends within the drugs world, a grow house is a facility that provides a quick turnaround. If one can manage to secure safe lodgings to grow one's plants, within eight weeks one is able to harvest and these plants begin their reproductive cycle.

Unless we catch up with these locations, there is a conveyor belt of money available to organised crime groups. Quite a number of eastern European people are engaged in this activity but it is certainly the case that some indigenous organised crime groups and individuals within them are very much involved also. It is that nexus between these groups that we are examining very closely.

We have seen throughout the harsh economic downturn that the use of cocaine and heroin do not appear to have diminished. Like all facets of crime and illegal activity, one will see dips, hollows and peaks but heroin and cocaine are still a problem for us and we are working to tackle that.

In terms of our success and the success of our international partners, the drugs world, and illicit drug trafficking in particular, is so lucrative that it will remain with us. I do not believe anyone is naive enough to suggest it will go away. It is incumbent on all of us, An Garda Síochána and our partners, to work hard to try to dismantle the operations of the type of people who are involved in this trade. The volume of the seizure of drugs since September of this year have exceeded that for the whole of last year. When one considers what we have done since September and the sizeable seizures, both in quantity and in value, one will realise the extent of the problem we face.