Results 21-40 of 116 for drugs speaker:Ruairi Ó Murchú

Ceisteanna - Questions: Taoiseach's Meetings and Engagements (27 Sep 2023)

Ruairi Ó Murchú: ..., will meet with Deputies later. I imagine it will also put forward its worries regarding that particular issue. We all know the issue in respect of Latin America. It is a serious part of the drugs supply chain. Dealing with both the supply and demand end of drugs is very difficult. We know about harm reduction and it is hoped the citizens' assembly will come up something more...

Garda Síochána (Compensation) Bill 2021 [Seanad]: Second Stage (17 May 2022)

Ruairi Ó Murchú: ...never had a particularly great relationship with alcohol. Many of us may have been less than saintly over the years. Beyond that, we are aware that we are dealing with a significant issue in respect of drug abuse, especially cocaine abuse. An awful lot of people see cocaine as a recreational drug that they can take without doing any real harm. It has been brought to my attention in the...

Saincheisteanna Tráthúla - Topical Issue Debate: Drugs Crime (15 Jul 2020)

Ruairi Ó Murchú: ...of State's response and I accept there has been a lot of good work and extra resourcing of the Garda. However, gardaí say they do not have all the services they require. A car belonging to the drug squad in Dundalk was attacked at the Garda station. That is the level of brazenness of the criminal gangs. They have operated for too long and we need to deal with them. Gardaí...

Proceeds of Crime (Investment in Disadvantaged Communities) (Amendment) Bill 2021: First Stage (28 Apr 2021)

Ruairi Ó Murchú: ...legislation is straightforward and there is widespread support for the idea behind it. We also welcome the Government's idea of a community safety innovation fund. We have been dealing with a drugs pandemic for a considerable time. While it may impact across society, it particularly affects working-class areas, such as those in my own area in Dundalk. In the past fortnight, I have...

Ceisteanna - Questions: Citizens' Assembly (13 Feb 2024)

Ruairi Ó Murchú: ...fears are in relation to those kids, this is having a detrimental impact on the wider community. We need better processes for dealing with such circumstances. Regarding the Citizens' Assembly on Drugs Use, we are very glad it happened and welcome its final report. We have been over and back in this House in relation to the failure of the war on drugs. We all know the reality we are...

Saincheisteanna Tráthúla - Topical Issue Debate: Health Services (7 Dec 2021)

Ruairi Ó Murchú: We are here to discuss the planned removal of the community and voluntary addiction network groups from the national oversight committee on the delivery of the national drugs strategy. We believed the removal was going to happen on Friday. A number of us met and the Minister of State will have received a letter as well as communications from a number of people on this matter. There has...

Garda Síochána (Amendment) Bill 2022: Second Stage (14 Jun 2022)

Ruairi Ó Murchú: ...in the Circuit Court and higher courts. Any sort of serious criminal activity is generally handled in them. Even when gardaí have done really decent work to deal with dangerous criminals, especially drug-dealing criminals who engage in violent activity, when action is taken, there is often a battle a day about remand, whether people are going to be released, and their specific...

Proceeds of Crime (Investment in Disadvantaged Communities) (Amendment) Bill 2021: Second Stage [Private Members] (8 Jul 2021)

Ruairi Ó Murchú: ...good people. This is all about natural justice. We do not for a second believe that this one small item of legislation or one very small solution is going to deal with the wider pandemic of drugs we are all constantly and consistently dealing with. However, this is about natural justice in the sense that we all welcome the work done by the CAB, we welcome seeing its officers on...

Public Health, Well-being and National Drugs Strategy: Statements (10 Sep 2020)

Ruairi Ó Murchú: I welcome the fact that the programme for Government mentions convening the Citizens' Assembly to look at the overall problem we, as a society, have with illegal narcotics and the drug debt, intimidation, violence and criminality associated with them. There is also the impact addiction has on communities and families and a lack of services. Regional task forces that are operating on the...

Criminal Justice (Amendment) Bill 2021: Second Stage (28 Apr 2021)

Ruairi Ó Murchú: ...the money taken by CAB and the Garda from criminal organisations. That money needs to go back into those communities, particularly working-class communities, that have been ravaged by the drugs pandemic with we are dealing. We need that to happen as soon as possible. It is as simple as that. It is natural justice. It is not a panacea for everything. I have stated before and will...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Departmental Funding (13 Jul 2021)

Ruairi Ó Murchú: I have arrived in the Chamber directly from a joint policing committee meeting in Dundalk. The Minister of State referred earlier to the Guerin report. Drug-debt intimidation and addiction are major issues. We cannot let organisations like this fail. The FASN is liaising with the HSE, but it is concerned because it has been awaiting the money for a considerable period. We need to get the...

Garda Siochana (Functions and Operational Areas) Bill 2021: Second Stage (22 Sep 2021)

Ruairi Ó Murchú: ...one particular estate. The Deputy asked why the gardaí were not taking action in respect of this estate. I imagine parts of Dublin are like parts of my town of Dundalk, where that is hardly the only drug dealing that was going down that day. I imagine there are lots of places where one can find this happening. The reality is that we would need an incredible amount of resources to...

Saincheisteanna Tráthúla - Topical Issue Debate: Drugs Crime (15 Jul 2020)

Ruairi Ó Murchú: ...out of the two-storey building. Obviously, some of them were injured, but luckily nobody was killed. That is the seriousness with which criminal gangs are operating in Dundalk. As regards drugs crime, one need only do a Google search to find that the Garda has been incredibly vigilant. Since it put a drugs unit in operation there have been finds of €30,000 and €35,000...

Youth Justice Strategy: Statements (21 Jun 2023)

Ruairi Ó Murchú: ...absolutely vital to being able to offer the sort of interventions that are necessary. It is also an area in which there are very early interventions for ages eight to 11. When we talk about drug dealing or kids involved in criminality or falling into it, that is the sort of age bracket we are talking about. By the time we talk about youth diversion projects and in some cases, by the...

Community Safety and Preventing Crime: Statements (18 Nov 2020)

Ruairi Ó Murchú: ...that is able to deal with the fact that kids are getting involved in crime at earlier ages. I refer both to serious anti-social behaviour and children being groomed by crime gangs to engage in drug dealing. We need a system that will deal with this. We must involve all the stakeholders. The difficulty is that these services, whether provided by the State or by NGOs, are generally...

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (21 Sep 2022)

Ruairi Ó Murchú: I was talking to a locum pharmacist working in County Louth. A lady who was on the drug payments scheme came in to him. She had a medical card but previously it had been taken off her. She had a medical condition. She was late for her medication. He wanted to know why and she said that she did not have the money in her account. She was taking the medication every second day, which,...

Ceisteanna - Questions: Departmental Programmes (5 Jul 2023)

Ruairi Ó Murchú: ...addiction support network, which is an absolutely vital cog that provides supports that no one else does for families. This is not only for the Minister of State responsible for the national drugs strategy but the Minister for Justice, who is the custodian, to a degree, of the report and the implementation plan. There is a failing around providing sustainable funding. An Garda...

Criminal Justice (Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing) (Amendment) Bill 2020: Second Stage (Resumed) (23 Sep 2020)

Ruairi Ó Murchú: ...streams for criminals. We must ensure that banks and our legal and policing frameworks are able to deal with this. The football field rave that we saw recently shows the epidemic level of the drugs scourge, leaving aside the breaches of pandemic restrictions and those difficulties. We must deal with the wanton criminality and drug dealing. This is one of the ultimate cash businesses...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Family Support Services (1 Jun 2023)

Ruairi Ó Murchú: Let me be clear. The Family Addiction Support Network has had a huge amount of engagement with the drugs and alcohol task force. In fairness, the latter has put in business plans and requests for funding that have not necessarily been met at this point. However, the requests that have been put in probably would not cut the mustard in regard to the particular issue we are dealing with,...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Departmental Reports (25 Nov 2021)

Ruairi Ó Murchú: We have all had multiple conversations on the necessity for multi-agency cross-departmental pieces of work that must be done to deal with the issue we have, which is caused by drug gangs and organised crime and the issues they cause in communities, particularly in working class communities. Obviously, the issue blew up in Drogheda, in particular. In fairness, a significant amount has been...