Danny Healy-Rae (Kerry, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I am glad to have a small amount of time to talk about this very important matter. I thank Deputy Curran and the Fianna Fáil Party for giving us the opportunity to discuss the drugs problem because it is a fact that drugs are available in every town and small village in County Kerry. I am sorry that I have to admit it, but it is a fact. It is also a fact that we are losing the battle and many families are affected, as it has resulted in many suicides and deaths. The closure of Garda stations on both sides of Kenmare Bay is an issue I have raised several times as it has given drug gangs endless opportunities to bring drugs into the county. Garda stations have been closed along the Beara and Iveragh peninsulas. In places like Sneem and Laraugh vast tracts of water are open to bring in drugs. They have to be brought in somewhere and they are. The closure of local Garda stations has denied gardaí the opportunity to accumulate the information they were able to accumulate in previous years. Gardaí in patrol cars are working to the best of their ability, but the loss of gardaí in local areas has been immense and had a disastrous effect.

I do not believe cannabis or any other drug should be legalised. I am disappointed with the Deputy who suggested they should because they should not be. The Minister for Health has relaxed some rules. Individuals who are apprehended for the first or a second time for drugs now have to be let go by gardaí, which is absolutely ridiculous. No one in the Chamber asked for this, yet the Minister for Health introduced that policy. We are very disappointed with him. If a young person is stopped in Killarney today, how will gardaí know that he or she was let go somewhere else? How do gardaí know how many times the same person has been caught and released? It is a joke. Thugs are being let go. I feel for young parents today who are raising children because they have a serious task ahead of them.

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