Jackie Cahill (Tipperary, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I commend Deputy Curran on bringing forward this Bill. Drugs are one of the greatest challenges facing our communities today. It is not just an urban issue. Unfortunately, drugs are in every town and village in our 26 counties and they are becoming a serious issue with huge repercussions. As Deputy Curran said, in recent years, we have seen the very worrying development of the use of children for the distribution of drugs.

We are bringing forward this Bill to try to tackle this sinister development.

At the beginning of this year the Blanchardstown Local Drugs & Alcohol Task Force published research showing what many of us already knew to be the case: children as young as eight years old are working as drug runners, with ten-year-olds dealing drugs. While the research focused on our capital, there is no doubt but that this practice of drug criminals protecting themselves by using children is seen as successful and will become the modus operandiwherever drugs are dealt in this country. It is therefore important we now amend legislation to discourage and criminalise the use of children in this way. The use of minors in drug distribution networks is appealing because, due to their age, there are fewer criminal consequences if they are caught. The Bill seeks to change this and in doing so make it less attractive for those higher up the distribution chain to use young people in this manner.

The Bill creates two new criminal offences. If it is passed, it will become a criminal offence to purchase drugs from a person under 18 years of age. It is hoped this will make drug purchasers less inclined to purchase from minors and that those higher up the chain will in turn be less inclined to use young people in the distribution network. The Bill also creates a new offence of causing a child to be in possession of drugs for sale or supply. It is hoped the combined effect of these two new offences will be to protect young people from getting involved in the drug economy.

The Blanchardstown report exposes the growing prevalence of coercing and exploiting children to supply drugs in our community. Organised crime gangs appear to be targeting teenagers to handle drugs, knowing they are far less likely to attract attention. This also removes the risk of gang members themselves getting caught with supplies. The promise of a lucrative lifestyle tends to prove irresistible for teenagers. Supplying and dealing drugs for quick cash is easy when in their minds there is little or no sanction for getting caught with quantities of class A drugs. Younger generations may not necessarily be aware that a criminal conviction for drug offences can have a major impact on a person's future prospects. We cannot assume that parents are encouraging their children to steer clear of the dangers associated with illegal drugs. Sadly, in some cases, it can be parents or family members who encourage their offspring to get involved. The drug dealer will cynically seek to use children from communities that are already marginalised. The result is that the opportunity for these children to develop productive and rewarding lives as adults is greatly reduced.

The success of this legislation, like all laws enacted, will be to ensure the resources are put in place to guarantee effective implementation. The number of gardaí working on drugs crimes is less than encouraging. The number of personnel in the drugs unit since 2015 has declined. The case is the same in the specialist organised crime unit, where numbers are static at best. In my county of Tipperary we have only six gardaí attached to the drug unit, and the inspector in charge of the unit does not even have a squad car at his disposal.

If we are serious about legislation, this legislation is extremely necessary, but the resources must be put in place for An Garda Síochána to deal with this ever-increasing scourge of drug use. The other issue we need to address is education. Education is key to showing young people the damage drug use can do and the misery it will cause.

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