Dr. Johnny Connolly:

In terms of the violence that occurs, somebody might report it to someone such as Ms Metcalfe, but he or she will not want it to go further. People often try to deal with the issue themselves. For example, they will try to pay a debt or try to avoid people. Sometimes they go to the local authority to ask to move house, but they will not say it is related to a drugs debt, although that is what it will be about. Somebody might report violence to the Garda, but he or she would not want it go further. It will then not appear anywhere. We are, therefore, not being told about the true extent of the violence. I am involved in a study with CityWide in which are we trying to conduct an audit of drug-related and community violence and intimidation. One of the factors that distinguishes a licit market from an illicit market that is there no regulation of disputes in an illicit market and if somebody gets a bad deal, he or she has no one to go to. In the study I conducted all of the violence was associated with debt. A Garda drugs seizure is an indicator of successful law enforcement, but the debt relating to it will continue to stand and follow the person. He or she might end up in prison, but the debt might follow him or her into the prison environment or affect his or her family outside prison.

One of the most in-depth studies of this kind was carried out in Limerick and it showed the different layers, including the extreme violence, about which we all know. The study was entitled, Understanding Limerick. The violence occurs in a continuum. There was a story about a woman who was driving along a road in a certain housing estate in the city. A five year old child was standing in front of her on the road and as she was about to blow the horn, she saw the child's parent at the door of the house. She realised the parent was connected to somebody involved in a gang and, therefore, drove in a different direction. People's houses are attacked and petty vandalism takes place, but this is choreographed to a certain degree. There are, therefore, layers of violence and its impact is in layers.

Another study entitled, The Iceberg of Intimidation, was conducted recently in Blanchardstown. It was not conducted by a professional researcher, but he was trying to describe the impact of the violence which occurred. He described it as lower order violence involving young children, middle order violence involving people participating in the drugs trade, including drug users, and higher order violence involving the serious players. Each form of violence is different and the responses need to be different. What is done with a five year old who is caught up in this or a 12 year old who is running drugs is different from what would be done with a serious player high up in the dealing chain who never touches drugs and is never seen with them. The violence impacts on the different levels and is insidious. Sometimes families report that they do not know whether to pay the debt. They might be advised by the Garda that they would be better off paying. Sometimes it will depend on whether they trust the threat and whether they believe whoever is behind it is serious. I have heard of people outside the dole office while claimants were queuing collecting money off them on a weekly basis. How this impacts on somebody who is trying to deal with other debts, austerity and so on and come up perhaps with €400 a month and the stress and pressure it entails is hidden.