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THE MINISTER IN charge of the national drugs strategy has called on communities to take control and report drug dealing at a local level.
Speaking to reporters earlier today, Catherine Byrne said her own community in Inchicore had been “ravaged” by drugs.
She expressed particular concern about young people who are being “sucked in” and asked to distribute drugs at local level or citywide.
“We all have a responsibility to do as much as we can to stop criminal activity, particularly targeting young people, because when you’re at a vulnerable young age – as young as 12 now – you can be targeted.”
Byrne also spoke of young people being intimidated by gangs because one of their siblings is an addict or a dealer.
“Young people who have never been involved in any kind of drugs before, any kind of issue around drugs and they may be targeted because they’re in a group of people.”
Drugs are killing an awful lot of young people in our communities. I can tell you one family in my own has lost four members of their family, out of five children this person has lost four members. There’s too many parents and grandparents rearing children now because family members have passed away of addiction and I think we need to be conscious all the time.
Assistant Commissioner John O’Driscoll, who also spoke today as Crimestoppers highlighted its anonymous ‘Dial to Stop Drug Dealing’ line, said gardaí would not have achieve many of the results they have had without the help of communities.
So far in 2016, 104 calls have been made to the confidential phone line. As a result of calls last year, crack cocaine, methamphetamine, cannabis, and firearms were seized and a number of people were charged with possession for sale and supple.
Sometimes people give information in relation to something which they think is fairly minor, but it could actually lead to a very significant results. By and large, clearly a lot of the information will relate to those who are dealing on the street. But it could be the missing link for us in getting to someone who is further up the chain.
“Remember the people who are involved in drug selling, are the people who are involved in the death, that arises from drug use, all the implications in terms of abandoned needles and social problems within the area,” O’Driscoll said.
“All these people who you read about today who are major drug dealers, started off at one time as small dealers and that is how you prevent this problem from continuing at the pace that it has developed over recent years.”
Members of the public concerned about dealing in their area, can contact the Dial to Stop Drug Dealing line confidentially on 1800 25 00 25.
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What’s the point. Even if they get caught 100 times, they’ll get only get suspended sentences
And that approach has worked out well so far, hasn’t it!?
She good at snooping around , so let her do it.
Snooping around is right. She snooped into people’s shopping and reckoned we shouldn’t be stacking up our trollies with drink. F”cking cheek of her
What a load of old cobblers . The garda are well aware locally who is small time dealing . Nothing happens . A blind eye is turned to this .
Sure there’s open dealing and injecting going on in front of the Garda…this is such an exercise in optics it’s ridiculous. Walk through town any day of the week and you’ll see someone shooting up…what a load of bull
@Amanda Baker: in Galway recently, a member of the public placed a call to Mill St station to report open heroin dealing going on in the westside in the middle of the day, they were told there were no garda available to deal with it as they were all down in the court house!!
She’s earned nearly €500 euro in the last 4 years she can feck of what would she know about ordinary people’s lives
Yeh aint no body in that area reporting nothing if thats the culture of the area, least ye be shot or reprised yourself. Low flying “local” political rhetoric is sometimes more offensive then the larger political ignorance. Sweet jesus, (un)profund solution to a “i havent a clue” cause… Sure ye might as well push “just say no”…. and be done with the attempt at grabbing thin political capital or a headline. Solutions to a wider social, economic, and quite frankly generational neglect please. For example… Wider opportunities ARE actually available despite your postcode, and vast majority in a dodgy postcode CAN actually succeed if its not beaten into them that they have no worth and/or need your intelligence insulted that smack is wack. Boat missed.
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