Gerald Nash (Labour) | Oireachtas source

I was looking around wondering where they were. I welcome them too.

I now have the unenviable task of following in the footsteps of Senator Ruane, who is an acknowledged expert in this area. There is very little that she has remarked upon that I would take issue with. As the Minister of State knows only too well, the community I represent and in which I am proud to live and have grown up is in the grips of a vicious feud. I will call it a gangland feud and I make no apologies for doing so. I call it a gangland feud for a range of reasons.

Senator Ruane articulated very eloquently the spectrum of issues communities experience in terms of problem drug use, drug abuse, casual drug use and the fallout from these. We all know in this Chamber the variety of reasons for which individuals may decide to choose to engage in drug use of one form or another. There are many multifaceted reasons. There absolutely is a distinction between the kind of addiction we all know about and have encountered and the casual drug use referred to by my colleague Senator Conway. He referred to those who are taking drugs occasionally, including at weekends, and not understanding, or perhaps choosing not to understand, the impact of casual drug use.

As the Minister of State knows only too well, my area has been blighted over the past 18 months by an ongoing feud over control of the local drugs trade. It has claimed two lives. The Garda was very slow to respond with additional resources to deal with criminality. I am referring to the operation of the drugs trade at a high level in my area, comprising Drogheda, south Louth and east Meath. The fact of the matter is that it is working class communities, the communities I represent, that have been absolutely blighted and affected by the fallout from intimidation and victimisation. People who have nothing whatsoever to do with criminal activity are having their homes fire-bombed and their cars attacked. People's lives are in danger. Given my political philosophy and ideology, I would be the first in this Chamber to stand up for civil liberties but when individuals are tormenting the communities in which they live, it is simply not good enough that they are allowed to continue to walk the streets and get away with what they are doing with impunity. We have seen some success in recent days on the part of the local gardaí in that it seized cocaine worth €1.5 million. There were significant arrests for the possession of firearms. These are firearms that would be used to execute or assassinate people in my community. Regardless of where people stand on the so-called war on drugs, which is a term I never really accepted, I believe it is a war that can never be won in any event.We need to get real about drug use and accept that it is a reality of life. We need to look at decriminalisation, regulation and moving from a criminal justice to a health intervention perspective when dealing with the drugs issue. This war on drugs will never be won. It is impossible. Trillions of euro have been spent across the world in tackling this but to no avail. We are still seeing these issues in Drogheda, north Dublin and elsewhere.

I congratulate the Garda on the work it has done in recent times and using the additional resources at its disposal. I will issue a word of warning, however. The funding An Garda Síochána received in my locality for the additional deployment of gardaí and other resources to help tackle this problem has run out. The Garda has used these resources smartly. I appeal to the Minister for Justice and Equality and the Garda Commissioner to ensure that funds remain available in my area because this feud is still very much alive and well. We will not rest until our community gets back to normality and until such time as people in the area can live safely and securely without fear.

The Minister of State, Deputy Catherine Byrne, has visited the local drugs service in Drogheda, the Red Door Project, which I have supported for a long number of years. The Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection, Deputy Regina Doherty, visited it last week. With all due respect, if it were down to ministerial visits alone, the Red Door Project would have all the funds it requires to run the kind of outreach services we need in the Drogheda area to deal with addiction and problem drug use. We do not have that, however. It is an area gripped by a criminal feud and problem drug use but does not have the outreach workers in the communities most adversely affected by this problem. That is simply not good enough. If ministerial visits were worth anything, we would be rolling in clover and would have all the resources we need but we do not. I always take any commitments made with a pinch of salt. We have seen commitments made in the past but not delivered on. To be frank, it is simply not good enough. People are working extremely hard to tackle this issue in our community using the kind of approach in which I believe, namely, a health-based and community development approach, but not getting the resources they need.

We can focus many of the resources we have available to us battling the gangs. That is important and should happen. However, we need to look at the root causes of why people decide to use drugs, self-medicate and do not have opportunities. We need to build up communities with self-respect, dignity and opportunities. I, along with my colleague, Councillor Pio Smith, who works with the Red Door Project and who the Minister of State would have met during her recent visit there, have been engaging with Louth County Council to ensure the communities most adversely affected by the ongoing feud in Drogheda and problem drug use are resourced properly. We have requested that Louth County Council establish a task force with organisations such as the local education and training board, SOLAS, local schools and further education bodies to take a community-based, education-led and employment-led approach to the problems in those areas. We have been told that, if the council and other authorities can produce a report on some actions to deal with these issues, it will be funded. I will believe that when I see it, however. We need the kind of approach involved in the Mulvey report and the resources which were invested in Dublin’s north inner city. We need that to be directed towards places like Drogheda if this is not to be a recurring problem in my community.

Will the Minister of State consider the strong argument that resources obtained by the Criminal Assets Bureau, such as expensive vehicles, watches, cash, property and so on, in raids in Drogheda over the past two years, should be directed right back into the communities from which they came? This would ensure we can build community facilities and fund projects, as well as resource community workers to tackle the problems I am encountering and dealing with, day in and day out, on behalf of the people I represent.

With respect, will the Minister of State listen to the former incumbents of her office and properly resource the national drugs strategy? Will she do the kind of actions I think she wants to do but may not have the resources to do?