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THE DIRECTOR OF the Ana Liffey Drug Project has rejected suggestions that the drug problem in Dublin’s city centre has gotten worse, saying rather that it has moved and changed, as is the nature of the illegal drugs industry.
A report featured in last night’s RTÉ Prime Time suggested the scale of drug-taking and anti-social behaviour in the city during the day time has increased. Garda detection numbers for sale and possession of drugs are up significantly but Ana Liffey’s Tony Duffin told TheJournal.ie that this does not necessarily mean things are worse now.
“For me anyway, from our experience, I wouldn’t agree that things have gotten worse – I think things have changed,” he said. “The street drug market has shifted around. The guards have clamped down on it in the inner city and so you’ve got this notion of dispersal. The [Prime Time] report had owners from two businesses on the Southside who have been affected by this because now it’s more visible in other areas.”
Drug trends themselves have changed too in the city, as Duffin explained a recent surge in people injecting drugs that were sold as crystal meth and are in fact different forms of stimulants and hallucinogenics.
“People’s behaviour on those can be quite challenging,” he said. “And then you’ve got the proactive policing of the drugs market at street level which moves things around. It’s very fluid, it’s a black market so it response to what’s happening and we need to try to respond to that.”
Though Duffin conceded there can sometimes be little empathy for the plight of addicts, he stressed that the best solution for this problem lies in helping these people to be safe and to eventually overcome their dependence on drugs or alcohol.
There’s a need for the central government to invest in treatment and rehabilitation for people. That treatment should be person-centred and accessible. But we need a joined approach, we at Ana Liffey work with gardaí and that needs to happen across the board – a joint up approach.
Like others working in this area, he said injection centres would be a considerable resource, as well as residential crisis stabilsation units.
“We want to make sure people are safe while using drugs and, while doing that, constantly look to treat and rehabilitate them so they can stabilise, become drugs free and live a safer, healthier life,” he added.
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Problem is that the DUP see themselves as British. They are Irish born on the island of Ireland and even qualify for an Irish passport. They are Irish. Terrified at the thought of being seen as Irish! Their “mainland” sees them as an Irish problem and are dying to get rid of them. 65% of the north voted to remain but the DUP are trying to drag the population into a mess.
@Dave Phelan: very well said and factually correct…..I wonder what, if any, ideas proposals etc the poisonous DUP have suggested/submitted as a way of solving this as opposed to disagreeing with everything and sitting on their arses drawing salaries and cannot even agree to co-govern the six counties….
@Dave Phelan: Doesn’t the GFA give each and all natives of Northern Ireland the right to choose between British and Irish nationality?
If they consider themselves British then they’re British.
The veto which Unionists have had supporting the Conservatives on any kind of deal, even one that allowed them to “Divorce and go back at weekends for conjugal rights” meaning one which any other European country would have snapped the offer at once.. the stubbornly refused. What do they care if the no deal Brexit brings unemployment, misery to their dairy industry which would be deviated the chances of violence being given the excise it needs to return is very real .. but even if Northern Ireland whose majority voted to remain in the EU Even if the Unionists block every deal but a clean break and reduce their brothers in the Northern half of this country to living in an economic wasteland the Unionist MPs responsible will still get re-elected whatever disaster they bring down.
Too used to being in the position of power to understand what it is to concede. This will drag out into next year after Boris quits leaving the 4th Prime Minister to deal with BREXIT. Elections will see the DUP thrown under the bus in any negotiations.
It would certainly solve it, at least in the short term until “alternative arrangements” can be found. But it won’t happen because there are too many idiots in politics up north and in BJs cabinet. The best solution would be for Britain and the EU to come together and decide that a new treaty of Europe can be come up with over the next x amount of years and that will address the concerns of the British people, which in fairness are concerns of many Europeans, including pro EU people like myself. And Britain withdraws article 50 based on this. This would be a win for almost everyone.
When Teresa May made the comment re the Back Stop “No British Prime Minister could ever agree to that” She showed her lack of Knowledge of Irish/British relationship.The most famous of all British Prime Ministers Winston Churchill offered a United Ireland to DeValera if he would enter the Second World War on the side of Britain.DeValera declined but the Unionist Leader Craig was flabbergasted and deemed it a gross act of treachery.
Paul Connolly
@Paul Connolly: You are correct that Churchill did indicate that if Dev could give back control of the ports to the British for to use during the war and support the UK then after the war then they could ‘discuss’ the question of Northern Ireland. But this was so relatively soon after Ireland had secured Independence – so soon after the wounds of Civil War and so opportunistic by a British Prime minister that it smacked exactly as all the other British promises had going back to the debates in UK about Home Rule – not to mention the fact that Churchill would almost certainly not been able to actually deliver by getting that approval of Unionists and the Uk parliament….so Dev was quite correct not to bite ( imagine the reaction in ireland if he had – we are giving the british the ports back but is ok lads in a fews after the war they promise to discuss the North ? And what happened to Churchill after the war ? Quelle supris ??? He was chucked out of power and most certainly couldn’t have delivered the ‘Nation Once Again’ he suggested after a few whiskies when he desperately needed the Irish ports !! Now the rest of the EU and the world can see how the British handle the North – as we Irish have seen for hundreds of years – with disdain as they always use it for power struggles in Westminster. Nothing much has changed there in hundreds of years in the attitude to Ireland.
And the key to that is Arlene or at-least it was when May was shilling her deal.
I don’t know what a backstop is …..
Is this still one closer step to a united Ireland I wonder ?
If Ian Paisley was capable of living with the idea of the people (Unionist community) of NI as British, while the cattle are Irish, I can’t see why that logic cannot be extended to goods and services. The electricity used by most DUP voters is Irish (from the Republic), and I haven’t noticed any DUP voters going off grid in protest, to protect the Union.
Have Scotland also wanted this solution extended to them ?
@Furze: Does Scotland run the risk as Northern Ireland does of the Good Friday Agreement being destroyed and sinking into a quagmire of violence ?. If it does then we can apply it to Scotland as well
@Furze: this is the issue which everyone seems to ignore,the SNP, have said that they will demand a similar deal to NI, and would be quite within their rights to do so,as this was never envisaged in any brexit deal it would be likely to scupper any agreement that was reached and would be seen as the road to independence by the majority of Scots who voted against devolution.this could precipitate an Ulster situation on the British mainland whichever would be a disaster for the UK.
@Bryen O Murchu: Scotland might be part of a union under one crown, but they are still a country in their own right. If they elect to go their own way (either with similar conditions to a Northern Ireland backstop or full independence) then ultimately you can’t stop them, just like the Europeans can’t stop the UK leaving the European Union. You can’t have it both ways.
if Bojo offers the DUP a few extra billion every year and a change of name for the back stop. They will see it as a way to move forward. Bojo will get a deal with the EU and come back to the UK having negotiated a deal and get it passed through parliament
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