Dáil Éireann debate -
Tuesday, 20 Apr 1999

Vol. 503 No. 3

Written Answers. - Drug Related Crime.

Conor Lenihan

Question:

479 Mr. C. Lenihan asked the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform if his attention has been drawn to the concerns expressed by the coalition of communities against drugs (details supplied) in relation to Government policy concerning drugs and the reduction of drug related crime. [9807/99]

Conor Lenihan

Question:

481 Mr. C. Lenihan asked the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform the progress, if any, made towards implementing proposals in relation to dealing with drugs and drug related crime. [9809/99]

Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform (Mr. O'Donoghue)

I propose to take Questions Nos. 479 and 481 together.

As the Deputy is aware, many of the policies proposed in the position paper, published by my party in March 1997 entitled A Radical Approach to Drugs and Drug Related Crime have been incorporated with those of our partners in the Government's An Action Programme for the Millennium. The policy of this Government for tackling the drugs problem is based upon strong legislation backed up by tough law enforcement and a multi-agency approach to the issue of demand reduction.

As Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform, I am committed to a zero tolerance approach towards those who benefit most from the insidious drugs trade. In that regard, the Criminal Justice (No. 2) Bill, 1997, which goes to Report Stage on Wednesday, 21 April 1999, proposes a mandatory minimum ten year sentence for persons convicted of dealing or trafficking in drugs with a value of £10,000 or more, and for automatic asset inquiry at sentence stage. This Bill also contains a provision to abolish preliminary examinations in relation to all indictable offences in order to allow trials take place more quickly and it is expected that the Bill will be enacted shortly.

The Government is committed to ensuring that the Garda Síochána has sufficient resources to enable the Garda to tackle the supply of drugs and to deprive the criminal elements involved in this trade of their ill gotten gains. In 1998, the Garda seized illicit drugs with a notional street value in excess of £90 million. During the same period Operations Dóchas, Cleanstreet and Mainstreet yielded cumulative seizures of heroin and other controlled substances with a notional street value in excess of £5.6 million and resulted in the arrest of over 10,5000 persons for drug offences.

The Criminal Assets Bureau continues to be successful in targeting assets derived from criminal activity and provisional figures for 1998 indicated that six interim orders, under section 2 of the Proceeds of Crime Act, 1996, to the value of £1.6 million and five interlocutory orders, under section 3 of the Proceeds of Crime Act, 1996 to the value of £1 million were obtained by the bureau in that year. The bureau also made demands for the payment of income tax with interest on persons suspected of criminal activity to the value of £10.8 million and assessed social welfare overpayments of £0.221 million. Savings to the Exchequer in respect of terminated social welfare payments amounted to £0.206 million.

The Garda Síochana operates a confidential 24-hour free phone service to the public, which allows any member of the public to contact the Garda in confidence relating to any matter, including suspected incidents of drug dealing. In addition, the Crime Stoppers free phone was set up in January 1998 and up to March 1999, 48 per cent of calls received on this line were drug related resulting in the seizure of drugs with a notional street value in excess of £42,000.

The Government is aware that the drugs problems cannot be tackled successfully by supply side measures alone and as I have already stated a central plank of the Government's policy is a commitment to a multi-agency approach to the issue of demand reduction.

As the Deputy is aware, I am a member of the Cabinet Committee on Social Inclusion and Drugs, which gives political leadership to the national drugs strategy, which has been established to deal with drug misuse at a national and local level. The national drugs strategy operational team implements the Government's strategy on drugs and maintains a close liaison with the 13 local drugs task forces, which have developed action plans to tackle the drugs problem in local communities. The range of measures which have been brought forward by the local drugs task forces represent a balanced approach to the problems posed by drugs and drug addiction. I am pleased to inform the Deputy that the Government is committed to keeping the local drugs task forces in place for, at lease, a further two years.

Other initiatives, under the national drugs strategy, are the young people facilities and services fund, which is being promoted by my colleague, the Minister for State at the Department of Tourism, Sport and Recreation, targeted at young people "at risk" of falling into the cycle of crime and drugs, and the integrated services process, which has been launched in four areas, on a pilot basis, to provide an integrated delivery of services to these disadvantaged areas.

As the Deputy is aware, the creation of a drug courts system which would involve court supervised treatment programmes for less serious drug related offences is a key feature of the Government's programme to combat the drugs problem. Following Government approval, a drug courts planning committee has been set up and part of its remit is to prepare plans for the establishment of a drug courts pilot project in the District Court in 1999.

The development of a drug courts system on a pilot basis marks a major policy initiative in the criminal justice system. In effect, drug courts will afford persons in trouble with the law on foot of having committed minor or non-violent drug related offences an opportunity to be treated under court supervision as an alternative to the more usual penal sanctions which can be imposed. I look forward to assessing the results of the pilot project in due course and am optimistic that this initiative is likely to have a significant impact in reducing criminal activity for drug related crimes.

From what I have outlined, I am sure the Deputy will agree that significant progress has been made on the issue of drugs and drug related crime and I would like to assure the Deputy that I see the drugs problem as a major priority and will continue to treat it as such.