Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I suggest that the whole issue of drug gangs is also appropriate to the Cabinet committee on social policy and public services. Recent reporting about the scale and activities of drug gangs in Dublin, and increasingly throughout the country, has confirmed what I and my party have been saying for several years, namely, that there is a new and sinister level of drug activity taking hold and tackling it must be a core priority for the State at all levels. We believe the most important response to drug use is a return to the proven system of active and targeted community-based interventions. That is why we identify the social policy side of government. For this to work, however, we must also tackle the gangs spreading fear and destruction in their communities and using them as a base to grow their reach into the country.

Perhaps the most sinister part of what these gangs have been doing is recruiting and intimidating children into working for them. They do this because it spreads the legal risk and creates new networks for them. One part of the response to this issue must be to make it clear to the gangs that recruiting children opens them up to more severe punishment and penalties. Deputy John Curran, as the Taoiseach knows, has a Bill that does exactly this. The Bill passed Second Stage with all-party support and we need it now, not next year. The Taoiseach committed two months ago to looking at fast-tracking this Bill into law, but so far we have heard nothing. I ask the Taoiseach again to allow Deputy Curran's Bill to proceed immediately to committee and help ensure that it can become law without delay.

Another new element of the work of the drug gangs, as Interpol has said, is sending people down to provincial towns and cities to sell their product. This has been seen in Britain and America, in particular. The devastating impact of drugs in these communities can be swift and overpowering unless this activity is stopped early. Does the Taoiseach agree that this is an urgent issue, which must become a core priority for the Government?

See this speech in context