Brian O'Shea (Waterford, Labour)

I thank the Minister of State for his reply and echo his congratulations to the gardaí on the successful seizure in Cork.

As I understand it, the seizure was worth approximately €500,000. A mixing agent was seized at the same time, and if it had been mixed with the cocaine, the drug would have been worth double, some €1 million. As the Minister knows, there are internationally accepted estimates that between 5% and 10% of illegal drugs are seized by the authorities. That gives one an idea of the quantity of cocaine that is being imported here and the kind of money involved.

I wish to focus once more on the recreational use of cocaine. The Minister of State referred to people viewing cocaine as a clean drug, but there is growing concern among medical experts that it is becoming a major health risk. The number of cocaine overdoses in 2005 was double the figure for the entire 1990s. From 1991 to the end of the decade, 100 cocaine-related deaths occurred, and 27 fatal overdoses have occurred since 2000 in which cocaine was a factor. The health aspect is that the heart can be damaged by cocaine. It can cause death, and where taken in conjunction with alcohol, it can do internal damage to the person. Whereas the measures outlined by the Minister are very welcome, I firmly believe that there must be a much more focused and effective approach to education for that growing band who see nothing wrong with using cocaine, since they perceive it as a clean drug. There is also the issue of their turning a blind eye to the fact that some very nasty, ruthless criminals are ultimately the greatest beneficiaries.

What urgency will the Minister of State bring to coming to terms with and preventing cocaine use and reducing dramatically the number of people who see taking it as a fairly harmless pursuit?

See this speech in context