Mattie McGrath (Tipperary, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I too compliment an Teachta Curran and Fianna Fáil for bringing forward this very important motion. The numbers involved are truly staggering. As the motion indicates, individuals, families and communities throughout the country have been devastated by illegal drugs. Drug-related deaths in Ireland are at their highest ever, increasing from 431 in 2004 to 736 in 2016. The value of drug seizures has also increased from €29,706,000 in 2016 to €71,859,000 in 2017. We all know of communities blighted by this scourge. The Garda and the health services do not have adequate resources or personnel to deal with the crisis. What is going on is shocking. A man was recently arrested in Tipperary after €110,000 worth of cocaine and cannabis were found in his car. He was travelling in the vehicle on Wednesday in the Kilcommon area when gardaí stopped the car before discovering cocaine and cannabis estimated to be worth €70,000 and €40,000, respectively. There is no doubt that this is just the tip of the iceberg.

Our society and culture are in free fall. Young people and many more ordinary people are now living in a culture where casual drug use is normalised and even expected. We have allowed a perception to be created where if people do not drink or take drugs there is something wrong with them. The European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction's 2018 report on Ireland observed the following:

Available data suggest that drug use has become more common among the adult general population aged 15-64 years in Ireland over recent years. Fewer than 2 in 10 adults reported use of any illicit drug during their lifetime in 2002-03, but this figure increased to approximately 3 in 10 in 2014-15.

The most recent survey from 2014-15 confirms that cannabis remains the most commonly used illicit drug, followed by MDMA, ecstasy and cocaine. All of these statistics indicate that urgent action needs to be taken to pursue a robust anti-drug strategy. What is going on is shocking. Deputy Cahill and I sat with the new Garda Commissioner for three and a half hours last week and he closed his eyes to all of this. He says that there is no problem. There are six gardaí on the drugs task force in Tipperary. We would need six in Clonmel alone, and 60 for the county.

This is an epidemic. Deputies such as Deputy Martin Kenny say drugs are social and recreational. They are trying to sanitise this epidemic. It cannot be sanitised because it has devastating impacts. People want to legalise all sorts of drugs, which the Deputy has in a list here. People think this is lovely, sexy and dandy, but it is not. It is wreaking havoc on our communities up and down the country and a blind eye is being turned by this Department. Seven or eight of the Minister's predecessors got together last week and expressed horror and shock at what is going on. I have worked closely with some of them, such as former Minister Pat Carey. The Garda is not turning a blind eye to this, but it does not have the numbers, resources, or wherewithal to deal with it. I am not blaming the Minister but he is in charge. Three and half years into its term, the Government has allowed this to mushroom and take hold because of the posh boys in the Government. I will not say what I was going to say, but the posh guys think that everything is fine and dandy. They say "Let them eat cake in the country", while Rome burns.

We are devastated. I have children and grandchildren who have just been born and I am proud, lucky and privileged to have them. What are they born into? What is going on with the drugs, the corruption, the money, the deprivation and the bullying is devastating. We do not have gardaí in my own town in Clonmel in Tipperary, or in Carrick-on-Suir. I gave the rosters to the Commissioner last week. I even gave them to the Minister and the Taoiseach recently. They do not care or want to know. They say things are fine down in Carrick-on-Suir, and it does not bother them. It is disgraceful that ordinary tax-paying, law-abiding citizens are left to deal with this. There have been suicides, threats and intimidation because of this. Bullying also happens because of small drug debts. Families come to my clinic on a weekly basis whose loved ones are in their graves, and they are being bullied and threatened to pay their debts. It is all going on under the radar and everyone thinks it is all fine. It is not fine. It is an epidemic that is going to engulf us and drag us down.

The so-called liberal left - I will not call them loony lefties - want to legalise these drugs. They do not know what they are playing with. They have problems here in Dublin but we have them as big down the country and they are getting bigger. It is going to get worse than the plague. It is a plague. There are gangs terrorising people in Clonmel and no one can touch them because they have ethnic status. People are terrorised but the Garda cannot touch them. Even worse, when the Garda go to raid them after several pleas from people to do so, the gangs have already been tipped off. It is a dirty, murky underworld. The Ceann Comhairle can tell me to calm down if he likes. It is going on in front of my eyes. I am living through it, and we are going to suffer the consequences. Nobody can challenge these marauding gangs of thugs and bullies with their sulkies and bikes, and the Garda does not have the resources to tackle them. It is the same in every other town and village in the country, where one finds gangs, warfare and money.

It is all about power. If we do not deal with it very soon, there will be no way to deal with it.

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