Dáil Éireann debate -
Thursday, 30 Jun 1994

Vol. 444 No. 7

Written Answers. - Drug Seizure Statistics.

Hugh Byrne

Question:

49 Mr. H. Byrne asked the Minister for Justice, further to her reply to Deputy Mr. Byrne in Parliamentary Question No. 23 of 23 June 1994, the reason she cannot substantiate the quantities of illegal drugs by type seized in County Wexford in the years 1993 and 1994; if any arrests were made in connection with quantities of heroin, cocaine, ecstasy and LSD seized in the county; the number of such instances in which files were sent to the Director of Public Prosecutions; the number of persons charged in respect of possession and/or distribution of such narcotics; the number of prosecutions that have been successful to date; in relation to the above named substances and any other illegal drug, by type, the proportion of seizures that took place entering or exiting the Port of Rosslare, County Wexford; if, in relation to each such narcotic, the Garda believe that there exists a distribution network to local users in the county; if not, if she will elaborate on her previous answer to Deputy Mr. Byrne in relation to each drug individually vis-á-vis its source and destination; the special measures, if any, she has taken to combat the drug problem in County Wexford; if she will give details of such arrangements as there are now and such improvements as have been in place and are planned in relation to the detection of drug smuggling at Rosslare Harbour; the numbers of sniffer dogs used at the port; the estimated proportion of foot and vehicle traffic throughout the port that is subjected to search and/or questioning; and if she will make a statement on the matter.

Minister for Justice (Mrs. Geoghegan-Quinn)

On 23 June 1994, in response to Parliamentary Question No. 23 I informed the Deputy that statistics in relation to drug seizures for the years 1993 and 1994 are not yet available. It is expected that the 1993 Garda Commissioner's Report on Crime will be published in the near future which will include particulars of drugs seized in 1993. As in previous years, the report will not contain a breakdown of the amount or type of drugs seized on a county or Garda divisional basis, though it will contain particulars of the number of persons charged in each Garda Division for drug offences during 1993. Statistics for 1994 have not been compiled yet. The further details sought by the Deputy are not readily available, and could only be obtained by the expenditure of a disproportionate amount of staff time and resources.

I have previously informed this House that the Garda authorities are treating the problem of drug offending with the highest priority and I fully support their efforts in this respect. The Garda authorities continually monitor the drug situation and constantly review and adapt their strategies as appropriate to deal with it. While I cannot go into details on particular Garda strategies. I can say that these strategies involve surveillance, intelligence gathering and targeting of suspects as well as close liaison, both nationally and internationally, with Custom authorities and police so as to curb the supply of illicit drugs to this country. In this regard, the Garda authorities are satisfied that sufficient attention is paid to County Wexford, including Rosslare Harbour.

Responsibility for detections of drug smuggling and importation is shared with the Customs and Excise service who, I understand, allocate resources to the problem at all ports of entry to the country, including Rosslare Harbour.