Tony Gregory (Dublin Central, Independent)

I thank the Acting Chairman for the opportunity to say a few words, but I doubt that I will need the seven and a half minutes.

I take the opportunity, as Deputy Cyprian Brady did earlier, to pay tribute to the late Fr. Joe Lucey who did magnificent work — I am not overstating it in any way. Our Lady of Lourdes Church on Seán MacDermott Street was packed last night as a tribute to his work. He is certainly an immense loss to that community in the north inner city and to the marginalised young people in the Crinan Youth Project and in other projects with which he worked over the years.

Also last night I attended a meeting in Store Street Garda station of the community policing forum in the north inner city. This is an initiative which I was involved in setting up where the local authority, the Garda drug unit and the community come together in their efforts to counter the drugs problem in the north inner city. After at least 25 years of a drugs plague and scourge in Dublin's north inner city, last night when the Garda drugs officer made his report of drug seizures over the past couple of months throughout the north city area, despite all the hype we hear about cocaine being the new drug, seizures of heroin were reported everywhere, right throughout the north city.

Previous speakers have pointed out that heroin is rooted in social disadvantage and in marginalised vulnerable young people, and there is no doubt about that. It is a great shame on all of us that we have failed to use the affluence that has been available to this country over the past ten or 15 years to make any radical inroads into that impoverishment from which so many young people still suffer in some of the areas of our city and country.

That was the reality last night. A variety of drugs have been seized, but I hope the seizure of crack cocaine in the north inner city was an isolated one. In terms of seizures, the most prominent drug or the drug on which the drugs unit, having learned from the past, concentrated used to be heroin. The Minister of State is by no means new to this issue because he is as long around as any of us and his constituency has as large a problem as, if not larger than most.

The national strategy includes the idea of community policing fora in every drugs task force area. Having one in the north inner city is a great help according to the local authority, Garda and community, which must be brought together if there is to be an effective approach to countering the drugs problem. I hope similar fora will be set up throughout task force areas.

Not far from Leinster House this morning, I attended a joint policing committee review, which is another strand of the strategy. I hope initiatives such as community policing fora and local authorities' joint policing committees are a step towards the democratisation of the Garda. I would like to believe that when there are directly elected mayors in some areas such as Dublin city in a few years' time, the Garda will fall under the local authorities and mayors' remits. This may be a long way off, but it is necessary.

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