Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour) | Oireachtas source

Some months ago, I had the privilege of bringing to the House a large group of men and women who are involved in the Coolmine therapeutic programmes. We had a conversation about what ages people were when they started to use drugs. These are people who have devoted many years of their lives to trying to quit drugs and become clean. In a great number of cases, their involvement with drugs started when they dropped out of the later stages of primary school. They started using and running drugs from the age of ten, in the case of the youngest man, and aged 12, 13 or 14 in most of the other cases. The damage is done at an early age. Earlier this year, the Blanchardstown local drug and alcohol task force produced a report about the fact that drug gangs are now specifically tackling young children. If young children, as the lowest points in the food chain, are caught, it is difficult enough to prosecute them. It means, in fact, that the godfathers of the drug gangs get away scot free.

At the Cabinet sub-committees on security and social policy, are there any serious discussions about the incredible damage being done to individuals, families and whole communities as a result of the fact that children not involved in drugs have to be kept indoors to play on their Xboxes and are not free to go out because of the risk of their being preyed upon by these drugs godfathers and gangsters? On behalf of these beleaguered communities, will the Taoiseach reinstate community policing to ensure that it will be safe for children to play in their neighbourhoods?

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