Shane Cassells (Meath West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I commend my colleague, Deputy Curran, on bringing forward this motion and on all his diligent work in this area both now and when he was a Minister of State. I also commend the various Ministers of State with responsibility for the area of drugs from all parties who came together last week to show their solidarity and demonstrate that there is a united front across our Parliament in dealing with this scourge in our land. As a country, we have to ask whether we have lost the battle against this disease or whether we still have the fight in us to take control back from the drug lords who think they hold control of our streets.

It is fair to say that we have always had a problem with drugs in our society but what afflicts our country now is the fact that those who seek to profit from the sale and distribution of drugs are making their criminal presence an even wider danger to life. What is most worrying is how the scum involved in the sale of drugs have now taken to murdering each other as part of the turf wars between gangs dealing in these illicit products. This is now big business for these thugs because of the millions of euro involved in the sale of drugs. The murder of a 39 year old man in Bettystown in County Meath last night, which is a result of the continuing feud in Drogheda, has brought this to new and dangerous levels. Why is that? It is because an automatic pistol was used in this shooting and, of the six shots that were fired, three struck nearby cars in the Castlemartin Drive estate. Innocent people could have been killed rather than the intended target.

Some years ago, when these incidents were starting to gather momentum in the Meath-Louth area, I distinctly remember the then Bishop of Meath, Michael Smith, delivering a homily in which he said that, as a society, we should not be dismissive of the lives of the people who are murdering each other because they are all God's children. I like and respect the former bishop, but I profoundly disagree with his assessment on that occasion. If these maggots want to murder each other, I do not really care. If it pleases God, may they all burn in hell. What I do care about, however, is when their presence results in threats to the lives of ordinary citizens, which it does. It not only presents a threat to life, but results in towns like Drogheda and Bettystown having to be almost shut down to police the impact of these feuds.

Last night we saw how innocent people could have had their lives taken because of the scum and because of that lawlessness. I put it to the Minister that this cannot be allowed to prevail in the State. Let the scum burn. The ordinary decent people in Bettystown and Drogheda deserve to live their lives in safety.

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