Pauline Tully (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

One of the most serious issues in my area and elsewhere in Cavan is that of drug misuse and the crime associated with it. At one time, this would have been thought of as an urban issue but that is no longer the case. It is an issue in every town and village and every rural area. Young people are constantly being brought into this seedy world without realising the consequences. Some are attracted by the promise of easy money from doing drops or acting as a courier for drug dealers but more often than not, it is a matter of young people easily running up sizeable drug debts. They cannot then afford to pay such debts and end up dealing themselves to do so, which gets them more and more deeply involved. In other cases, they or their families are being threatened. I am frequently told of families hearing a knock at the door from people looking for hundreds of euro or even €1,000 by the weekend, because a son or daughter has run up a debt. These people are afraid to go to the Garda about it. I am also personally aware of young people who have taken their own lives because they could not see a way out of debt and were afraid to admit their problems to parents or loved ones.

Drugs have become normalised in society among our young people. They think nothing of taking a substance on a night out. They do not realise how much it can affect their mood or that the high is so quickly followed by the low and the paranoia. Investment in the national drugs strategy and in drug and alcohol task forces is needed immediately. We need a multi-agency approach, such as the Minister has referred to, to tackle this problem head on. The Departments of Health, Justice and Education in particular need to work together. The education aspect is very important because we need to get to young people early to teach them about the dangers of drugs. We also need more gardaí in the national drugs unit. Monitoring of the prisons is also required as drug gangs seem to recruit within them. They seem to have a lot of control in prisons as was evidenced yesterday by the seizure in Mountjoy Prison. I believe it was the largest seizure of contraband ever in an Irish prison and I say "well done" to all of those involved in detecting it.

On a very different issue, farm thefts continue to occur. These worsen at this time of year when the evenings are dark. Everything from fuel to tools, machinery and livestock are targeted. I have even read recently of rural crime gangs using drones and online mapping to case farms and to identify less protected access routes by which to gain entry. We need more gardaí. We need to see gardaí visibly patrolling in rural areas. Everybody should be confident that, if they need to call the Garda, they will get a speedy response. Many people have reported to me how comforting they found it to witness gardaí walking the beat or patrolling in their areas during the first lockdown. People need to see that on a full-time basis.

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