Govt's drug strategy not working - Labour
The Government has utterly failed to control the sale and supply of drugs throughout the country, it was claimed today.
Labour Party justice spokesman, Joe Costello, called for urgent resources to be ploughed into local drugs task forces to enable communities to tackle the problem directly.
“Gardaí have pretty much lost the battle in controlling the supply of drugs,” he said.
“The morale, the targeting and the direction of the commitment have all been lost, with the result that in disadvantaged communities in Dublin and throughout the country drug dealing is taking place right under the noses of the gardaí.”
Mr Costello, presenting the party’s submission to the mid-term review of the National Drugs Strategy, claimed the problem of drug abuse had deteriorated significantly since the Strategy was put in place nearly four years ago.
He cited a 30% decrease in the number of drug seizures, and the rapid spread of cocaine use as proof the Strategy was failing. He also claimed that no State agency dealing with the supply, control and reduction of drugs was working effectively, including the gardai, the courts and prisons.
Labour has called for a Minister of State to be appointed with sole responsibility for drugs strategy and with direct access to the Cabinet. Mr Costello said it was the only way the Government could prove its commitment to tackling the growing epidemic.
He said there was no doubt the greatest causes of crime in Ireland was the abuse of hard drugs, resulting in colossal human and economic cost as well as an installation of fear among communities.
“The only thing the Government has put in place is the mandatory 10-year sentence for possession of €12,700 worth of drugs,” he said.
“But four years later less than 2% of those sentenced for drug offences are serving prison sentences of that length, it just hasn’t been noted.”
Mr Costello also highlighted the fact that no-one had ever been prosecuted for the sale of drugs in prison, despite claiming that 75% of inmates were taking drugs.
“The Government urgently needs to toughen up and reinvigorate its drugs strategy,” he said. “There is huge disillusionment and frustration among communities. All of the planning has taken place but none of the initiative.
“Commitment on resources has been lost and unless a new commitment is put in place this situation will go from bad to worse.”
The party claimed drugs barons were using large towns as “greenfield sites”, gradually moving through them into new pastures, thus expanding networks to every village and town in the State.
The call for action comes just one week after two men were jailed for 12 years each for their involvement in the importation of one of the biggest drugs hauls ever intercepted in Europe.
Mr Costello claimed the case, which involved the seizure of €22.5m worth of drugs, proved there was no consistency in national drugs strategy as the sentence was just two years more than the mandatory term.
