Jack Wall (Kildare South, Labour)

I thank the Minister of State for his offer of a briefing and also the Minister for Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs, Deputy Ó Cuív, for his note and his offer of a briefing.

The United Nations report is negative. It states that Ireland ranks fifth highest in terms of the increase in cocaine use and is the only developed nation that has experienced a large increase in use. If one examines the records, everything has increased tenfold since 1999. The number of cocaine-related offences recorded by the Garda Síochána has increased fourfold from 297 to 1,224. Cocaine seizures have increased from 17 kg in 2002 to 270 kg in 2006. Everything is going in the opposite direction to what we want.

We should not accept that it is normal for cocaine use to increase if we are doing well. What alternatives are we providing to weekend use of cocaine? According to the report, 2 kg of cocaine per day is consumed in the greater Dublin area. What is being done to break that momentum? The figures in this report indicate we are not doing anything and that we are allowing use of cocaine to increase to epidemic proportions. It is imperative that we put down markers to try to break that momentum. Otherwise we will experience again what we experienced in the early 1990s with heroin.

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