Vol. 261 No. 5
asked the Minister for Justice if he is aware of a report (details supplied) to the effect that drugs of all descriptions, including heroin, are freely available in large quantities to young people in Dún Laoghaire and Galway; and if he will order an immediate inquiry into this matter.
93.
asked the Minister for Justice if he is aware of a press report (details supplied) that Galway and Dún Laoghaire were two of the main centres for drug trafficking in Ireland; and what action he intends to take.
With your permission, a Cheann Comhairle, I propose to take Questions Nos. 92 and 93 together.
The report in question is attributed to an unidentified person in London, who is said to have been a native of Galway. I do not think I can reasonably be expected to comment on a report of that sort and, in any case, I do not agree that ordering an inquiry into the matter is either necessary or useful.
The enforcement of the law relating to the illegal possession or sale of drugs is a matter that can only be dealt with by the Garda Síochána in the normal way and the best assistance anybody can give is to bring to their notice any relevant information which may be in his or her possession.
Will the Minister not admit that I was the first to raise this question in the House as far back as 1966 and that when I asked would the Minister for Justice and the Minister for Health nip it in the bud I was told that there was nothing to nip, that I was talking through my hat? Will the Minister not further admit that since I put down that question last week over 20 people have been arrested in Dún Laoghaire?
If arrests took place I doubt if they were necessarily consequential on the question.
They took place in any case.
Could I ask the Minister if he is aware of the great difficulty in a member of the Garda Síochána obtaining a search warrant and that this hampers the enforcement of law and order in relation to this matter?
I am not aware that there is great difficulty but there is a problem and I understand it will be dealt with in the legislation which the Minister for Health is promoting.
