I want to take the opportunity today to address the House on the issue of drug trafficking and the need to enforce our laws in this area in the most rigorous manner possible. As Deputies on all sides are aware, I have made the issue of drugs a matter of the highest priority and devoted a great deal of my time and energy since becoming Minister to tackling this most pressing problem.
The reasons the drugs problem must be at the top of the national agenda are obvious. Drug traffickers are waging war on society and the casualties are there to be seen. In recent weeks, a number of young lives have been cruelly extinguished by drug abuse. Such deaths, however, mean nothing to the evil people who control and organise this despicable trade. For them, the only thing that matters is how much they can make from such suffering. Their only interest is in money and it is matter of indifference to them how they obtain it.
Because such vast profits can be made from drug trafficking, the groups who seek to control this evil trade are quick to use whatever means are at their disposal to defend and safeguard their lucrative earnings. In this regard, such groups represent — let us be clear about it — a real, serious and organised threat to the well being of our citizens. They have caused nothing but misery in the furtherance of their criminal aims. They respect no values, no moral code and treat human life with contempt.
In dealing with these people, we must be determined to enforce the law in a strict and sustained manner, see to it that those we entrust with that job, the Garda, Customs and the Defence Forces, have the required resources and the necessary powers. There cannot be any halfway house when it comes to these drugs terrorists. Either we as a society are serious about dealing with them or we are not. To put it simply, these people must be confronted and put out of business, for all our sakes and especially that of our children.
The scale of the problem can best be judged by the record amounts of drugs seized by the law enforcement agencies. For instance, as regards the drug commonly referred to as ecstasy, 2,000 tablets were seized in 1993 and 12,000 tablets were seized in 1994. However, so far this year, 160,000 tablets have been seized, and the figure continues to rise. This puts the problem in stark perspective. As regards heroin, 1,284 kilogrammes were seized in 1993, by the following year, this had jumped to 3,368 kilogrammes and so far this year, nearly 1,500 kilogrammes have been seized. I should point out that the last figure takes into account only the amount which has been analysed in the Forensic Science Laboratory to date. When all the seizures have been analysed, this figure will undoubtedly be greater.
In the first six months of this year, the Garda made 2,835 drug seizures, which is a 9 per cent increase over the same period last year. This is in line with the upward trend in drug seizures witnessed in recent years. In 1992, the number of seizures increased by 20 per cent. In 1993, the number increased by 15 per cent and last year, the number increased by 9.5 per cent and the number of seizures has increased by 9 per cent this year. These are damning statistics which call for action and that is precisely what I am doing.
Last Wednesday, I received the approval of the Government for a series of legislative, financial, opperational and organisational measures designed to reduce the supply of drugs into the country. Measures to tackle the demand for drugs are also included in the package.
The measures represent the most radical, far-reaching and significant steps ever taken in the history of the State to deal with the drugs problem. In this regard, it would be useful if I were to set out, in detail, the background to these measures.
It is important to stress that these measures are not a knee-jerk response to the drugs problem, on the contray they are the result of a painstaking and detailed analysis. What I announced last week, was a serious response to a serious problem.
As many Members will, no doubt, recall, there were a number of large seizures of illegal drugs at various locations on the south west coast during the summer of 1993. Certain incidents associated with some of the seizures suggested that a lack of co-operation existed between the Garda Síochána and the customs service, which could work against the success of operations aimed at countering drug trafficking.
Accordingly, the then Minister for Justice was asked by the then Taoiseach to carry out a general study of the problem. The study was directed mainly at the issue of optimum co-operation between the two law enforcement agencies involved. However, as work commenced on the study, it became apparent that a wider focus was needed, in view of the spread of responsibilities among a wider range of Departments and agencies for policies that have a significant impact on law enforcement in this area.
Also, current international experience indicates that the drugs problem cannot be solved through law enforcement measures alone and increasingly stresses the importance of tackling the problem from the educational and health perspectives, that is through demand reduction policies.
The report concluded that, while Ireland has a serious drugs problem, it is not yet on the scale experienced in other urban areas in mainland Europe. In effect, this gives us a window of opportunity to take effective steps to counter and limit the effect of the drugs problem here. In this regard, time is of the essence.
The study also concludes that there is a need for a new approach to tackle the drugs problem on a multi-agency basis, With all Departments and agencies playing a full part in seeking solutions through close co-operation and co-ordination of policies and strategies. The need for multi-agency co-operation also exists at local level in the larger urban areas where the drugs problem is most acute. The need to reorient overall strategy in this way reflects the broad acceptance that the drugs problem cannot be solved through law enforcement measures alone.
I would now like to deal with the various measures agreed by the Government. The first set of measures concern the issue of inter-agency co-operation,. The measures seek to put the interaction and relationship of the law enforcement agencies concerned into a formal structure in order to ensure a cohesive and co-ordinated fight against drugs trafficking. This will be done by the introduction of general guidelines to distinguish the functions of gardaí and Customs and Excise officers in relation to drug law enforcement and the introduction of a memorandum of understanding on relations between the Garda Síochána and the Customs and Excise service. This will ensure that each agency will know precisely what its role is in the fight against drugs and how that role fits in with the role of the other agency.
There will be closer working arrangements between Customs, gardaí and the Naval Service, including the introduction of a joint task force to combat drugs smuggling and importation; the exchange of liaison officers at national level; joint training courses and improved liaison arrangements at local level. This will ensure optimum cohesion and co-ordination in the fight against drugs. In particular, the joint task force will provide for a formal structure bringing the gardaí, the Customs and the Naval Service together.
A review will be carried out by the Departments of Foreign Affairs and the Marine and the Revenue Commissioners of certain legal provisions to assist in combating drug trafficking and taking successful action against drug traffickers at sea. This provides for a review by the Department of Foreign Affairs of certain legal provisions to assist in taking successful action against drug traffickers at sea — by streamlining the prosecution procedures of foreign nationals arrested at sea — and a review by the Department of the Marine of certain measures to assist in combating drug trafficking, for example, improved information in respect of pleasure craft operating within our territorial waters.
In addition, a joint review will be carried out by the Revenue Commissioners and the Garda authorities of certain recommendations made by the Law Reform Commission as regards co-operation between the two agencies. The report of the review is to be submitted within four months and the recommendations of the report, where relevant, will be incorporated in the 1996 Finance Bill.
The report on which my proposals are based also identified certain deficiencies in the law as regards the powers of the law enforcement agencies to take effective action against drug traffickers. To overcome these deficiencies, a number of measures have been agreed. There will be certain increases in the powers of detention of gardaí and the courts in relation to persons suspected of drug trafficking offences and, as there has been a great deal of comment about these powers, I will spell out what is involved.
The Criminal Justice Act, 1984, will be amended to allow the gardaí, on the certification of a Chief Superintendent, to detain a person suspected of drug trafficking for a period of 24 hours initially and, if necessary, for a further period of 24 hours. On request, a judge may permit the extension of the detention period up to a maximum of 72 hours if satisfied that this is necessary and, upon further request may permit a final extension of the detention period for up to a maximum of a further 48 hours, if satisfied that this is necessary. Furthermore, the legislation introducing these measures will be reviewed after 12 months in operation and the detention provisions will lapse after 12 months unless renewed by motion in both Houses of the Oireachtas.
I strongly believe that these new powers, together with the safeguards which I have set out above, represent a balanced and proportionate response to the drug trafficking problem.
These powers of detention are especially required to deal with socalled `stuffers and swallowers' who may be able to retain drugs within their bodies for at least a week. In addition, the report found that the present periods of detention permitted by law are inadequate in certain other cases. For instance, due to the international dimension which often exists in such cases, it may be necessary for the gardaí to make extensive inquiries in other countries when a person has been detained in connection with a suspected offence of illegal importation of drugs. Without additional powers, it is feared that many persons who will be detained in connection with serious offences may have to be released before investigations are sufficiently advanced.
Responsibility for the issue of search warrants in drugs-related cases will be extended to a garda, not below the rank of superintendent and I will set out the reasons for seeking such a change. I am sure all Members will agree that it is vital that the gardaí are in a position to intervene as quickly as possible in situations where they suspect that drug dealing is going on. The extension of responsibility for the issue of search warrants in drugs-related cases to a garda, not below the rank of superintendent, will allow the gardaí to speedily intervene in such situations.
There will be an increase in the powers of Customs officers in relation to the questioning of persons detained on suspicion of importing illegal drugs. This will allow Customs officers to participate, to the extent of their legitimate concerns, in the questioning of suspects who are detained or arrested by them in connection with suspected drugs offences and subsequently transferred into Garda custody.
It is also proposed to designate naval officers as enforcement officers for the purpose of Part V of the Criminal Justice Act, 1994 in connection with drug trafficking offences at sea. The present legal situation whereby Naval Service personnel do not have powers of arrest is a serious defect and must be remedied. As enforcement officers, the Naval Service personnel — petty officers and above — will have a power to stop, board and search a ship and anyone on it; to arrest without warrant anyone suspected of a drug trafficking offence and to seize and detain anything found on a ship which appears to be evidence of such an offence.
The measures agreed by Government also put in place new structures to fight the drugs problem. This is a recognition of the changing nature of the problem and the need for a dynamic ongoing response on the part of the State agencies which have responsibility for dealing with drug abuse. Maximum co-ordination is required between all of the agencies that are involved in the fight against drugs.
The measures agreed include the creation of a Garda national drugs unit under the operational control of a Deputy Commissioner, with overall responsibility for drugs law enforcement in the Garda Síochána. This new unit will subsume the existing Garda National Drugs Administration Office.
The Garda authorities are of the view that changes should be made in the organisational structure for drugs law enforcement to gear the force to the changing pattern and scale of the problem. In this regard, they agree with the report's recommendation that a national drugs unit, having an overall national remit, and responsible for all Garda operational matters in the fight against drugs, should be established. Furthermore, in view of the importance of the issue, the unit will come under the operational control of a Deputy Commissioner.
The measures will also include the reconstitution of the national co-ordinating committee under the chairmanship of a Minister of State and the establishment of two new sub-committees to look at the demand and supply sides of the problem with appropriate liaison between them and overlapping membership on both.
There are two sides to the drugs problem and they must be tackled together. In reducing the supply of drugs into the country we must also reduce the demand for drugs. This can only be done by a co-ordinated and integrated approach which harnesses all these State agencies with a role to play. The reconstitution of the national co-ordinating committee and the establishment of two new sub-committees to look at the demand and supply sides of the problem will achieve this objective.
The measures will further include the introduction of drugs strategy teams in Dublin, Cork, Limerick, Galway and Waterford comprising representatives of the Garda, the probation and welfare service, the prison service, the health boards, the Department of Education, the local authorities and the local community. These teams will assess the drugs problem in these urban areas and draw up action plans to deal with it having regard to local circumstances. There is a recognition that the drugs problem can differ from area to area as experience has shown. The drugs strategy teams will ensure that effective local arrangements are put in place to develop and co-ordinate action against drugs in those areas. A critical aim in establishing these teams will be to ensure not only that the relevant agencies come together, but that local community representatives also have a say.
I am taking a number of other measures. I will review the law in relation to the renewal of licences on premises, be they dance halls or public houses, where the sale or misuse of drugs is suspected and submit a report to the Government in the matter. My review will extend to an examination of systems of control for unlicensed premises where the sale or misuse of drugs is suspected.
I will also review the issue of drugs in prisons, to include the question of methadone treatment, and prepare a report on the problem for submission to the Government within three months. Since taking office a number of changes have been made in our prisons, particularly Mountjoy. I have further proposals which I will submit to the Government in three months on which action will have been taken or will be taken in the near future.
There are two sides to the drugs problem, supply and demand. The measures agreed by the Government fully recognise this. Measures have also been agreed to specifically deal with the health and education aspects of the problem. In this regard the Government has agreed to the introduction of a substance abuse programme at primary school level at an estimated cost of £450,000 over three years. The Government has also agreed that the Minister for Health, Deputy Noonan, should, in consultation with the Minister for Education, Deputy Bhreathnach, and other appropriate Ministers, submit separate proposals to it by the end of the year in relation to demand reduction policies and that in the meantime drug treatment facilities should be expanded.
I have set out in detail the measures agreed by the Government to deal with the drugs problem — measures which show that we are serious about tackling the problem. I ask the House for its full support in implementing these measures. I pay tribute to those who have supported these proposals publicly on the airwaves and see the need for such measures, including Deputy O'Donoghue, Deputy Gregory and the former Minister for Justice who commenced work on the report in the Department.
This is one of the most serious problems facing us and we must build a consensus throughout the country on how to fight it. The measures announced last week provide a basis on which that consensus can be built. I do not under-estimate the problem facing us. I can, however, give the House this guarantee: the drugs problem is the number one priority for me and my Department and will remain so.