Matt Shanahan (Waterford, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I wish to address a question to Mr. Ryan of the Department of Justice. On the inner city programme which Senator Fitzpatrick discussed, I would be interested to get the information she requested when that is possible. Will Mr. Ryan provide exactly what is happening there? He said there were excellent outcomes. I have some knowledge of community safety partnerships. A former Secretary General of the Department of Justice, Sean Aylward, led out on this in Waterford. I noted Mr. Ryan's comment that the Department will, he hopes, look for a local leadership programme and for people to step forward. That is not very easy to do in terms of community involvement, particularly where drug dealing is rife. There are significant personal safety issues for anybody, particularly a member of the public, in trying to combat any of that. I am not quite sure what that will look like. I will wait to see.

What is the Department's opinion on trying to deal with the issue of drug supply into the country? Others spoke about the difficulty of trying to tackle organised crime. Obviously, supply is interdependent on price. We saw in past years that when the price of drugs rose, it had an effect on consumption. The witnesses will be aware of recent talk of our defence situation and the navy in particular. We have no ability to interdict drugs being landed on the south coast, which we have seen a number of times. What does the Department of Justice think about that in terms of our defence budget? We have not done anything. Three ships have been tied up in Cork Harbour in the past months, unable to go out to sea because of a lack of recruitment and workers. The same is true of An Garda Síochána and its recruitment programme. We hear about the churn of new gardaí passing out and not staying in position because of that. Where is the Department of Justice speaking to Government on this issue?

I wish to also ask about CAB activity. We all remember Fachtna Murphy and Barry Galvin at the time when the CAB was set up and the stellar victories they had against organised crime. It appears the situation has now changed. Organised crime is much more organised now, unfortunately. There are very effective telecommunications and IT systems at play. There is a long-running saga of a crime family overseas who cannot seem to be apprehended or brought to justice for their involvement in drug dealing. I think the Department has an important role to play. In fact, I do not think it, I know it. Obviously, its statute is that as well. Will the witnesses speak to a few of those points?