With your permission, Sir, I wish to share my time with Deputy Flood.
Adjournment Debate. - Dublin Drugs Problem.
Is that agreed? Agreed.
It is appropriate that I congratulate RTE, and in particular its "Prime Time" crew, on last Thursday night's programme dealing with the drug problem in Dublin. It put what is a growing problem in this city, and in the country, into sharp focus. It is now clearly of the utmost importance that immediate action is taken on this extremely serious problem.
As a first step may I be as helpful as I can to the Minister and suggest an immediate amendment to the Misuse of Drugs Act, 1977? While possession is an offence under the Misuse of Drugs Act, 1977, the actual use of a controlled drug other than prepared opium does not appear to be an offence. This problem must be tackled on two fronts, first, from the point of view of the Garda and, second, on a medical front. It should be made an offence to use a controlled drug and powers should be given to the Garda and health boards to detain addicts for limited periods. It is necessary that such legislation be introduced without delay. Not only are addicts damaging themselves but it would appear from the comments of some judges they are responsible for up to 80 per cent of the indictable crime committed in this city.
A national drugs enforcement agency, a high level of enforcement policy and greater co-ordination between the Navy, Army, Garda and Air Corps are required. I ask the Minister to implement the report on such co-ordination which I understand is in her Department.
I thank Deputy O'Donoghue for sharing his time with me. While not being critical of the Minister of State, Deputy Durkan, I would have preferred the Minister for Justice or the Minister for Health to be present.
This country is awash with illicit drugs not just in the city centres or disadvantaged areas highlighted on the "Prime Time" programme, but in every town, village and rural area. Drug users are to be found everywhere. It is a national crisis requiring a national co-ordinated response.
I am disappointed that the Government's strategy committee, based in the Department of Health, which draws together representatives from Customs and Excise and the Departments of Health and Justice has met infrequently over the last number of years, particularly since I left the Department of Health as junior Minister. If that is the Government's and the committee's response, our basis for tackling the problem is weak.
Much of the crime in our country is drug related and arises out of the need for drug abusers to feed their habit. Godfathers recruit drug pushers in areas where the problem did not surface until recently; they wait outside schools and recruit young abusers and pushers. When we are up against that sort of crime we need a national response which will target resources in different areas. The Government must seek to reduce the supply of drugs and it can only do so by amending the appropriate legislation. Customs and Excise officials must be given increased powers to detain those suspected of bringing drugs into the country, particularly those suspected of concealing them in their bodies, which happens all too frequently until the drugs are eliminated from their bodies.
We must try to reduce the demand for drugs through education. Local community drugs teams could be established in every area to educate young people about the dangers of drug abuse and taking soft drugs.
I am concerned at the developments in Pakistan where it is reported that Irish people are involved in the movement of huge consignments of drugs. Our representative in Beijing and our Consulate representative in Pakistan are going to the town where they are detained. If the three individuals who are alleged to have been moving huge quantities of drugs had succeeded in getting a portion of that consignment into this country, many more young people would have become addicts. We should not treat our citizens who are caught moving drugs in far flung cities as cult heroes. They must be dealt with and we must take a stand on the issue as far as the law is concerned. Drugs godfathers and pushers must be dealt with firmly and expeditiously. We must have a national co-ordinated response; otherwise many young lives will be destroyed.
I thank Deputies for raising this matter which enables me to reply on behalf of the Minister for Justice.
The drugs problem is a complex one and requires a serious response. The "Prime Time" programme provided a valuable service in reminding society at large of the scale and extent of the problem.More than anything else, the programme showed that we need to respond on a number of fronts. In this regard, it would be useful if I were to set out, in some detail, the Government's approach to this most serious of social problems.
In 1991, the Government strategy to prevent drug abuse was published. The strategy, recognising that the problem is a complex and difficult one, proposes a multi-disciplinary approach requiring action in the areas of supply reduction, demand reduction and increased access to treatment and rehabilitation programmes.The strategy has been accepted by successive Governments as providing the best possible framework to deal with the problem. Much has been achieved. Special funding has been provided for prevention and treatment services. Satellite clinics have been established. General practitioners are being encouraged to take on responsibility for treatment of abusers. Detoxification facilities are being expanded. Emphasis has been put on demand reduction through education and prevention initiatives.
The need for this co-ordinated effort is especially apparent to those charged with law enforcement. The connection between drug dealing, drug addiction and crime is well known. Addicts need money and crime is one way of obtaining it. We must face up to the problem of hard drugs abuse which is essentially confined to Dublin, if we are to gain the upperhand.
International experience has shown there are no easy answers. Once the problem has developed it is notoriously difficult to reverse. However, the Minister is not interested in listening to those who shrug their shoulders and say we will just have to get used to the problem. I can tell the House that she does not accept this counsel of despair. We have no illusions about the scale of the problem which only makes us more determined to deal with it.
The problem is not insurmountable; let us make that quite clear. It can be beaten. We have to take control but to do so will require a co-ordinated and integrated approach. We have to deal with the demand for drugs, the conditions which generate that demand and the supply of drugs, in parallel.
What then is the Garda response? All Garda drugs units throughout the country are co-ordinated on a national basis through the National Drug Administration Office in Garda Headquarters. In Dublin, which as I have already said is the main area where heroin is a problem, drug units have been established in each of the city's five Garda divisions and their activities are co-ordinated through the Central Drug Squad based in Harcourt Square. This approach has enabled the Central Drug Squad to monitor the activities of drug dealers all over the city and has significantly enhanced the Garda intelligence gathering capability.
The Garda have targeted the heroin trade and made a number of very significant seizures. This month alone, we have seen important seizures of heroin at Dún Laoghaire and Dublin Airport. These seizures are a measure of the resolve of the gardaí to deal with this menace in the most resolute manner possible. There will be no let up in the fight against drugs. The law will be enforced in a strict, sustained and relentless manner.
I would like to briefly mention a number of other measures which are being taken to deal with this problem. First, the Department of Justice has completed a report which identifies the best arrangements for achieving a cohesive and co-ordinated response to the drug trafficking problem by the existing law enforcement agencies. The Minister intends to prepare proposals for Government based on this report as soon as possible.
Second, the Criminal Justice Act, 1994 provides for the seizure and confiscation of the proceeds of crime, including drug trafficking. This, as has been explained to the House at length recently, is designed to hit the parasites in our society who finance and organise the importation and distribution of drugs into Ireland. Third, the European Drugs Unit, which became operational in 1994, will provide a vital mechanism for the exchange and co-ordination of drugs intelligence throughout the European Union. All these measures taken together provide a co-ordinated intelligence-based enforcement strategy designed to put the so-called drugs barons out of business.
In the time available to me tonight, I have endeavoured to set out the Government's approach to this problem. I am convinced it is through this co-ordinated approach only that we can ever hope to control the drugs problem. Much has been done and much remains to be done. However, I can assure the House that this Government will respond effectively. The problem is too serious to do otherwise.