I welcome the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform, Deputy McDowell, and his officials. The purpose of this meeting is the consideration of a motion concerning the continuation in operation of sections 2 to 6, inclusive, of the Criminal Justice (Drug Trafficking) Act, 1996. Members have been circulated with a briefing note giving the background and with a report on the operation of the relevant sections of the Act which has been laid before the Houses. I invite the Minister to make his opening statement.
Criminal Justice (Drug Trafficking) Act, 1996: Motion.
The resolution before the committee seeks approval for the continuation in operation of those sections of the Criminal Justice (Drug Trafficking) Act, 1996, which relate to the detention provisions in that legislation. The fight against drugs continues to be one of the major challenges facing society. Drug abuse damages communities and leads vulnerable young people into a vicious cycle of addiction, crime and death. The Government intends to keep the fight against drugs at the top of the political agenda and that is clearly reflected in the programme for Government. In recent years unprecedented legislation has been enacted and the necessary resources provided to address the issue, especially in the communities which have been hit the hardest.
Before elaborating on the sections of the Act which need to be renewed, I will outline what the Government is doing to tackle the drug problem. A wide range of initiatives have been put in place to steer people, particularly the young, away from the misery of drug abuse. Significant progress has been made through the allocation of funding by the Government under various schemes. An essential element in this has been the involvement of the local drugs task forces.
The Government's policy to tackle the drug problem is set out in the national drugs strategy for the period up to 2008. It is the result of the most comprehensive analysis and assessment of the drugs problem ever conducted. The strategy brings all elements of drugs policy together in a single framework. Responsibilities are clearly assigned across Departments and agencies which will implement a series of 100 actions across the four pillars of supply reduction, prevention, treatment and research.
The major remit of my Department lies in the area of supply reduction, updating legislation and strengthening co-operation among law enforcement agencies. A number of actions under the supply reduction pillar will directly impact on drugs related street crime. A major focus of the Garda Síochána policing plan for 2002 has been the implementation of measures to achieve the objectives of the relevant actions in the drugs strategy. A key performance indicator set out in the strategy is to increase the number of drug seizures by 25% by 2004 and 50% by 2008, based on the number of seizures for the year 2000. I will provide some information on seizures when I address specific sections of the Act. The active participation of community and voluntary groups is an integral part of our response to drug misuse and the local drugs task forces provide the ideal vehicle for that involvement.
The task forces were established in areas experiencing the worst levels of drug misuse, particularly heroin. There are 14 such task forces - 12 in Dublin, one in Cork and one in Bray, County Wicklow. Their role is to prepare local action plans which include a range of measures in relation to treatment, rehabilitation, education, prevention and curbing local supply. In addition, they provide a mechanism for the co-ordination of State services in the areas concerned, while allowing local communities and voluntary organisations to participate in the planning, design and delivery of services. They are designed to complement and add value to the extensive range of interventions being delivered through the State agencies.
It is important that we concentrate our efforts on prevention. Young people are the most vulnerable, which is why the young people's facilities and services fund was founded. The purpose of the fund is to develop youth, sports and leisure facilities and amenities in disadvantaged areas where there are significant drug problems or where they have the potential to develop. This initiative requires the active participation of local communities and I am glad this has been forthcoming. The Government has committed €130 million over the lifetime of the national development plan to the fund. Over €60 million has already been committed to develop over 340 projects. Total funding approved for the second round of local drugs task force plans is over €14 million. This is on top of a commitment of almost €13 million over three years to develop premises for drugs projects in local drugs task force areas and a further €11 million annually towards the cost of mainstreaming over 120 projects under the first round of task force plans.
In total, the Government has allocated over €51 million to implement the projects contained in the plans of the task forces since 1997. I would like to allay any concerns about future funding of the national drugs strategy in the light of the current economic climate. I am happy to report that there is an increase of 16% in the moneys available for drugs work for 2003. The increase in expenditure for next year clearly reflects the Government's ongoing commitment to addressing the problem, particularly in areas where heroin misuse is most prevalent.
A lot of work has been ongoing in recent years, but many initiatives, mostly related to recreation and local development, are only now finding their feet. We are beginning to see the positive impact of the Government's strategy in local communities and I am confident that this trend will continue. It is the Government's intention to ensure it will. In the new year it is intended that a national awareness campaign will be launched highlighting the dangers of drugs. The campaign will be aimed at parents and young people to promote a greater awareness and understanding of the causes and consequences of drugs misuse. It will be long-term and will, I hope, inspire a general public debate on the importance of improving our knowledge on this major social issue.
I now turn to the detail of the resolution being discussed today. Section 11 of the Act provides that each of sections 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 will cease to be in operation 12 months after the date of its commencement, unless a resolution has been passed by each House of the Oireachtas resolving that it shall continue in operation. The Act, including the particular sections the subject of the resolution, was brought into operation with effect from 9 September 1996. The sections would, therefore, have ceased to operate on 8 September 1997 had appropriate resolutions not been passed by both Houses of the Oireachtas before then. The necessary resolutions were moved in both Houses to continue the relevant sections in operation; most recently, in December 2000, resolutions were passed to continue the sections until 31 December 2002. It is now proposed to continue them in operation for a further two years, until 31 December 2004. The two year period for the further extension of the operation of the sections will allow the Garda to continue its current level of activity against drug traffickers. It will also ensure this committee and the House will have an opportunity to debate the appropriateness of the sections in combating drug-related crime after a further suitable interval.
Section 11 of the Act also requires the Minister to prepare a report on the operation of the particular sections covering the period since the previous resolution. This report is required to be laid before both Houses of the Oireachtas before a resolution is passed by either House and must cover the period from the date of the ending of the previous report up to a date not more than 21 days before the moving of the resolution. Such a report has been prepared covering the period from 18 November 2000 to 22 November 2002 and has been laid before both Houses.
It is important that Members of the Dáil should have the opportunity to re-examine at appropriate intervals legislative provisions such as these to determine the need to retain them. They are, after all, provisions which give strong powers of detention to the Garda and we have a duty to examine them to assess whether there is still a need for them. Unfortunately, all the indications, including levels of drug seizures, point to the fact that we have not yet reached a stage where we can allow these provisions to lapse. We must continue to employ the detention provisions of the 1996 Act as an integral element in the fight against drugs.
Members of the committee will be aware of the concerted action of the law enforcement agencies in recent years to tackle the drugs problem. Legislation such as the Act we are considering today is only one side of the law and order approach. The other is the need for a strong Garda operational response, without which even the strongest legislation would have little effect. The strength of this response is shown by recent drug seizures. In 2001 the total estimated street value of significant drug seizures was over €50 million. The total value of significant drug seizures up to the end of September 2002 was nearly €42 million.
The Garda national drugs unit co-ordinates large-scale operations against those involved in the drugs trade. Drug trafficking is international and the GNDU maintains close contact with law enforcement agencies within the European Union and beyond. It works closely with international agencies to counter international drug trafficking and has built up a professional network of contacts to generate accurate drug trafficking intelligence. Since the establishment of the GNDU a number of significant internationally driven seizures have been made.
Street level drug dealing must also be tackled. The Garda Síochána has put in place a number of operations to tackle this problem. Operation Dóchas is designed to combat the drugs problem in Dublin by identifying critical areas requiring action and the deployment of the necessary Garda resources in the communities concerned. This initiative operates through an overt Garda presence and intelligence-driven operations against those involved in illegal drug activity. This operation has proven extremely successful, with drugs worth an estimated street value of €1 million seized and 2,296 arrests made during 2001. From January to the end of September 2002, drugs worth an estimated €3.1 million were seized and 2,828 arrests were made, in respect of which 1,550 people have been charged.
Operation Cleanstreet, which commenced in December 1997, targets street dealers. It is a joint operation between local gardaí and the Garda national drugs unit. Operation Nightcap is another specific operation designed to target drug dealing in public houses and nightclubs and co-ordinated by the Garda national drugs unit. Since the beginning of Operation Nightcap in December 1997 a number of premises have been closed and warning notices under the Licensing (Combating Drug Abuse) Act, 1997 served on licensees. In 2001 operations Cleanstreet and Nightcap yielded seizures of drugs with an estimated street value of approximately €92,000 and 1,875 arrests. In 2002 these operations yielded seizures of drugs with an estimated street value of approximately €30,671 and 615 arrests from the period January to October 2002.
I should mention the internationally praised Criminal Assets Bureau, which has been extremely successful in depriving criminals of the profits of their illegal activities. It has continually targeted the proceeds of drug trafficking as well as the suspected proceeds of other criminal activity. The success of the bureau is well documented on which I do not need to elaborate further here. With regard to sections 2 to 6, inclusive, I have given some indication of what is being done to tackle the drugs problem, but there is still much to do. That is the reason I ask Members of the Houses to approve the resolution.
In order to assist Deputies regarding the particular sections of the 1996 Act, the subject of the resolution, I will now outline their contents. Section 2 deals with powers of detention and permits the detention of a person suspected of having committed a drug trafficking offence for up to a maximum of seven days. The first 48 hours of this period may be authorised by a member of the Garda Síochána of specified rank. Thereafter, authority to detain the person up to the maximum of seven days must be obtained from a judge of the Circuit Court or District Court. In each case the authorisation may be granted where the court is satisfied that the detention is necessary for the proper investigation of the offence concerned and that the investigation is being conducted diligently and expeditiously.
Section 3 involves an amendment to the Criminal Justice (Forensic Evidence) Act, 1990, to allow for the taking of bodily samples in the case of persons detained under the Act.
Section 4 permits the re-arrest of a person previously detained under section 2 and subsequently released without being charged. The re-arrest can only be made on the authority of a judge and only in cases where new information has come to the knowledge of the Garda Síochána since the person's release.
Section 5 applies certain provisions of the Criminal Justice Act, 1984, to persons detained under section 2 of the Act so that, for example, where there are no longer reasonable grounds for suspecting a person of having committed an offence, he or she must be released. It also covers matters such as the provision of medical attention, access to a solicitor and destruction of records where a detained person is not prosecuted or where he or she is acquitted.
Under section 6, the Minister may make regulations for the attendance of a customs and excise officer at or the participation of such an officer in the questioning of persons under the provisions of the Act. As indicated in the report, this matter is being kept under review, with a view to bringing forth regulations in due course. The report required by section 11 shows that the number of persons detained under section 2 during the period in question - 18 November 2000 to 22 November 2002 - was 1,201. Of these, it is interesting to note that 611 were detained for a period not exceeding six hours, which is the initial period of detention permitted under section 2. Some 453 were detained for a period of between six and 24 hours, 117 for between 24 and 48 hours, 20 for between 48 and 120 hours and nobody was detained for the maximum of 120 to 168 hours.
The number of persons detained under section 2 who were released without charge was 456. A total of 745 persons were charged following detention under section 2, of whom 347 were convicted. There are 361 cases still pending before the courts and 25 have been withdrawn. Some 12 cases were struck out and there were no re-arrests under section 4 of the Act.
Two conclusions are clear from the figures: first, the shorter detention powers have been extensively used in the investigation of drug offences, and second, the longer detention periods have been used sparingly. These conclusions suggest that an important balance has been achieved in ensuring that the powers are used fully but only when necessary. The Garda authorities have indicated that the provisions of the legislation have proved beneficial to the force in the investigation of drug trafficking offences and that it is of the utmost importance that the sections continue in operation to assist the ongoing fight against drug trafficking, both nationally and internationally. I have no doubt that they have played their part in the fight against drug trafficking and that their continued operation is essential to the future success of that fight.
We cannot afford at this stage to give the message to drug traffickers that we are softening our approach. If anything, now is the time to continue to hold firm and refuse to slacken our pace. I, therefore, commend the resolution to the members of the committee. I will also be commending it to both Houses later in the week.
I wish to be associated with the welcome which has been extended to the Minister and his officials. It is great to have him here because the business before us is important.
I have no hesitation in strongly supporting this resolution. Colleagues will know that I bring to this committee the experience I gained in my constituency and in Tallaght, where I live. Tallaght is no different from anywhere else, except that it is a major population centre, and has, unfortunately, experienced many problems relating to drugs for a number of years. As the Minister is aware, communities in Tallaght - particularly those in west Tallaght - suffered greatly. Some political opportunists at the time took advantage of that. However, I am glad to say we have got over that period and that a lot of normality has returned to the areas in question. That is as it should be. Those areas need to benefit, as the Minister said, from the various initiatives the Government has undertaken. That is something I strongly support.
On occasions like this we should acknowledge the work that has been done over the years by a number of political colleagues, including the current leader of the Labour Party, Deputy PatRabbitte, who initiated the drugs task force concept. Deputy Rabbitte's work was followed by that of my party colleague, Chris Flood, who previously represented the Tallaght area and did a tremendous job in working through the difficulties of the time. Chris's work in that regard is acknowledged on all sides of the House. Chris Flood is a great loss to Dáil Éireann. This work is now being continued by the Minister of State, Deputy Noel Ahern.
The Minister said a number of important things, but the most important was to confirm the Government's firm commitment to funding programmes and initiatives designed to alleviate the drugs problem. I am sure this will be welcomed by all Members. There is not a day when any of us do not receive representations from people in our communities talking about the difficulties caused by drugs. Many families are still affected and continue come to me to draw upon my experience. The warning issued during the week by the Minister of State, Deputy Noel Ahern, was timely because, despite all our efforts and the great strides forward by the Garda, there is still a huge drugs problem in communities in Tallaght and other major population centres throughout the country.
The resolution the Minister has brought before us is timely and we should strongly support what he is trying to do. We do not want to take our foot off the pedal and we should continue to support the Government in every way. The Minister can return to Government and make it clear that we are supporting what he asks us to do in return for a commitment that the fight against drugs in our communities must continue and must be properly funded. There will be debate about the current finances and the constraints upon State funding, but a number of us represent communities that have had these problems and it is important that we say to the community groups who are fighting the drugs problem that they have our support.
I wish to refer now to the work of the drug task forces. The task force in Tallaght is doing an enormous amount of work under the chairmanship of local activist, Mick Duff. My central message is that we need to support these groups, not only those in my constituency but everywhere else as well. I cannot express more strongly my support for the work that is being undertaken in this area.
We must continue to strongly support the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform, the Garda and communities. That is what this resolution is about and I have no hesitation in recommending it to the committee.
I welcome the Minister and his officials. The Minister's preamble to the proposal for extending the time period in sections 2 to 6, inclusive, of the Criminal Justice (Drug Trafficking) Act, 1996, focused on the national drugs strategy and the local drugs task forces. I would have much preferred an opportunity to discuss the progress of the national drugs strategy and the local drugs task forces because I am not sure they are working effectively. The theory is wonderful.
The initial task force set up by DeputyRabbitte and the former Minister of State, Deputy Eoin Ryan, produced a document containing very fine principles and theory. However, the delivery of the service has been handed down to local drugs task forces comprising volunteers and State agencies and too much is expected of the voluntary community representatives and too little from the State agencies. I find the Department of Education and Science, the Department of Health and Children and Garda representatives wanting in terms of their ability to deliver what is required at meetings that take place. They are not there in a capacity where they have influence or power. The local drugs task force is very often a talking shop that is fine on ideas but poor on delivery because the people present do not have the clout to deliver. Those from local communities are often doing one hundred and one other things and are expected to contribute on this front as well.
We need to revisit the national drugs strategy and particularly the structures for the local drugs task forces. I am a member of a local drugs task force in the north inner city and have firsthand experience. Much good work has been done through the young people's facilities and services fund and the community forum, an offshoot of that which we are developing in the north inner city and talking about using as a template for other areas. However, it contains flaws.
I would like the number of representatives from State agencies increased considerably. In addition, less than half the funding that was expected from the local drugs task force was available for the nominated projects, even though the north inner city area and other areas around the city and country are crying out for more facilities and amenities for young people who are dropping out of school.
The Department of Education and Science is not playing its part in relation to those at risk. It does not have a delivery service, nor does it have a mechanism to address early drop-out from school to any great extent. I am disappointed with the Department, particularly in relation to the drugs task forces. Methadone is still the main mechanism used by State agencies. There has been serious criticism that not enough emphasis is put on the role of lifestyle and other activities in getting young people off drugs and that instead they are simply given a prescription for the rest of their lives.
I also have concerns about the Garda national drug unit. We have had operations Dóchas, Cleanstreet and so on, but there are now more drugs, particularly hard drugs, on the streets than ever before. Heroin is giving way to cocaine and there seems to be no ability to deal with it effectively. In areas such as Parnell Street, Moore Street and Sheriff Street the situation has become much worse than heretofore. Hard drugs are being sold openly on the streets, as anybody in those areas will confirm. Whatever figures have been given to the Minister, the situation is not improving but deteriorating. There has been no effective reduction in the supply. Prevention, treatment, etc., are limited.
It is against this backdrop that we need to look at what we are doing. We are proposing to extend the operation of sections 2 to 6, inclusive, of the Criminal Justice (Drug Trafficking) Act, 1996, for another two years and to reintroduce seven day detention. In 1977 the then Government put an end to seven day detention and we believed it would never be reintroduced. It is now recommended that not only should we introduce seven day detention, but that the power to re-arrest under section 4, in cases where new information comes to light, should be retained. The powers being bestowed on the Garda in this area are enormous, but they have not resulted in the benefits we expected.
Is seven day detention needed? In the past two years nobody has been held for more than five days and only 20 people have been held for more than 48 hours. It is always bad to have provisions in law that are not implemented. Perhaps the Minister might tell us whether a single person has been held for seven days since 1996? If not, we should consider removing the section.
In terms of the figures already outlined, drugs with a street value of €52 million were seized in 2001 and those with a street value of €42 million were seized by September 2002. With another quarter to go, it is clear that the amount of drugs seized on the streets in 2002 will exceed what was seized last year. That is only the tip of the iceberg.
I will not be opposing the proposals to extend the operation of the sections for a further two years. However, I question the desirability of having provisions on the Statute Book that we do not use. I would like an early debate on the direction of the national drugs strategy.
I also welcome the Minister and the opportunity to say a few words in relation to drugs. Those who have already spoken represent urban constituencies in Dublin and the problems they experience are somewhat different from the those experienced in provincial towns. That is not to say that we do not have a problem. I would go so far as to say that there is no village that has not been affected by drugs, where such drugs are not regularly available and where their misuse is causing endless problems on a daily basis for individuals and families. Hard drugs are confined to cities, with a small amount of usage in some provincial towns such as Athlone. The major hard drug problem is in Dublin, with some isolated pockets outside of it.
We need to renew our efforts in relation to the control of drugs. The most important way to do that, as the Minister stated, is by raising awareness. We cannot emphasise enough the need for increased awareness and the need for further education about drugs and their detrimental effects in many areas. Visiting schools is all very well, but success in getting the message across depends on the level at which one is granted access to schools. It is also important to go into sports clubs, youth clubs and other such organisations where young people can be addressed in a different context. If children are addressed in school, a certain percentage of them switch off because it is an imposition on their school day. In a different context, the effect might also be different. Perhaps the Minister would outline the awareness campaigns he is running and tell us more about them.
Community policing can play an important role in obtaining and supplying information about what is happening. In that context, community gardaí have a huge responsibility for gathering information, but they should be using it to alert other organisations and not just their colleagues on the force. For example, information about when a house in a local authority housing estate becomes vacant is a factor in how quickly that house is boarded up and made secure. Empty houses and empty gardens attract youngsters and are places where they can experiment, etc. Community policemen should have a direct line to local authorities in such circumstances.
Deputies O'Connor and Costello mentioned that all the work should not be left to local task forces, which, to a large extent, rely on volunteers. It is difficult to ask volunteers to put themselves on the line in this regard. There should be a more formalised structure to which they can revert. Local authorities should respond when someone informs them in this regard. I have experience of a local authority not acting quickly enough and leaving dens, so to speak, open to youngsters.
We are dealing with ruthless people in the fight against drugs. We saw what happened only last week in Limerick where a doorman who apparently had ruled out any drugs activity in the premises to which he was attached was gunned down in the street. The people concerned are ruthless and we need to fight them with all the resources we have. I have no difficulty, therefore, in granting additional strong powers to the Garda. It has very strong powers under these sections of the legislation and I hope they are used.
Will the Minister, if he has further information in this regard, inform us about the type of activities happening in provincial towns and the extent of amenity supports and grant aid for groups in disadvantaged areas? There are disadvantaged areas in provincial towns as much as there are in cities and they must not be neglected. I hope the Minister can tell us to what extent he is assisting in this regard.
Is there a profile of the typical drug pusher? If so, what type of person is he or she? Different people in my home town are referred to by some as drug pushers.
Our sons.
I never see such people being caught, brought before the courts and convicted. If they are so openly referred to as drug pushers, how come we are not dealing with them?
A problem was highlighted by a local newspaper in my area when a woman spoke about her child having his drink spiked. I do not know to what extent information is available to the Minister in this regard, but it appears to be a growing problem. I saw it happen two years ago and it is the most awful, frightening thing one could possibly see. A young man of 28 years had his drink spiked. He was in convulsions, suffered seizures and was in an awful state for about three hours. Afterwards, he fell into a deep sleep for about 48 hours. When he awoke, he had no recollection of anything that had happened. Despite inquiries, nothing could be brought to light.
Can the Minister, with the co-operation of the Garda, raise the issue of such incidents and examine how they can be dealt with and if there is some way of identifying the type of drugs used and tracing them? Would this legislation be useful in prosecuting someone who was found to have spiked a drink, or is such legislation in place? I do not know what drug is used. Perhaps the Minister can throw some light on it.
I welcome the Minister and his officials. I support the proposal for the continuation in operation of the sections of the legislation in question and support most of what has been said. It is very important that the Garda is supported in every possible way in terms of both numbers on the ground and whatever additional powers may eventually be needed for it to implement the laws and retrieve as many large amounts of drugs as possible.
In towns and cities we hear people saying they know who the drug pushers are. There must be people in provincial towns and villages and cities who know who the drug pushers are. Some are approached while others know what goes on. Many live in fear because of what may happen to them if they divulge their valuable information.
Has the Department thought about giving greater encouragement to people with such valuable information by informing them that, if they divulge it, they will be in a supportive environment within the Garda? Many young people live in fear of being caught giving information and withdraw to live in silence, but others suffer as a result. An advertising campaign may be useful in encouraging them to give information by informing them that it will be held in the utmost confidentiality. The campaign should be along the lines that such people owe it to society to divulge their information because, by doing so, others will be prevented from becoming victims of drug pushing, misuse and abuse.
I feel strongly about this issue because I know of a number of young people who are aware of what is going on but are not aware that they have a duty to inform or of the consequences if they do not handle their information properly. They must learn about this. We should put in place an education programme to encourage them to divulge valuable information.
Crack cocaine featured in the news recently. What was the genesis of the problem? I understand persons who could potentially seek refugee status were involved. What efforts are being made to ensure this drug does not come into Ireland?
Another issue is the youth of the violent godfathers of crime. In my constituency young people in their late teens and early 20s allegedly control the crime area and use vicious means. Murder is not unusual. How can we deal with this new and different breed of perpetrator of evil in society?
I thank the Chairman and other members of the committee for their considered and thought-provoking responses to the presentation and the report on the operation of these sections of the legislation.
Deputy O'Connor mentioned Tallaght and the drugs task force established by Deputy Rabbitte when Minister of State. Deputy Rabbitte has since raised with me on a number of occasions the formalisation of the relationship between the Garda Síochána and local public representatives. I intend to reflect this in the Garda legislation which I am bringing forward in order that it will not simply be a case of courtesy calls and that there will be a formal link. This is one of the developments in policing which took place in Northern Ireland and which is being proposed here, although for different reasons. I want to put in place a formal forum and link between local authority members and the Garda Síochána.
It is all very well for the mechanism of public accountability of the Garda Síochána to pass through the Garda Commissioner through the Minister to the Dáil. However, there is another area where there is no such formal linkage at present. Deputy Rabbitte and others have stressed to me the importance of approaching this matter on the basis that there has to be partnership between local government representatives and the Garda. Therefore, although a clear structure has not yet been decided upon, I intend to put a legislative foundation in place for interaction between the Garda and local authorities. This will mean that local government representatives will have - as a right, not as a favour - the capacity to interact with gardaí and to discuss matters of local concern with them to ensure that what happens on the ground reflects reality rather than theory.
With regard to the matter raised by Deputy O'Connor, we have to think of ways in which to divert children from the "occasion of sin", if I can use that old phrase, where drugs are concerned. We cannot be overly idealistic. In the main, though not exclusively, this means tackling young males. When males become drug abusers, females may follow, but they do not drive the process. Young males create the peer pressure in the first place. If we are serious about tackling this issue in deprived areas, we must use the programmes I mentioned earlier to stress issues such as the availability of alternative activities. Those activities cannot be idealistic or high-minded - this is not the boy scouts - and the measures should be about what children want to do.
We must look more at proposals put forward by original thinkers such as David Quinn of The Sunday Times who says that, in respect of some of these matters, it is a question of beginning to bring some rigour to our values. He also refers to the language concerning experimentation with drugs as an area on which society has turned its back to some extent.
Deputy Costello referred to the national drugs strategy. An annual report on the strategy is due in the new year and I will be happy to consider it in depth - if the committee wishes - reflect on what it does or does not contain and progress the discussion on it further. I note what the Deputy said about the voluntary sector being expected to do too much with regard to local drugs task forces and the danger that these task forces will turn into talking shops. Deputy Costello is unfortunately absent, but I stress that, as part of the Garda Síochána Act, I propose to bring about a new partnership between local authority representatives and the Garda Síochána to bring local linkages into that relationship.
I agree with Deputy Costello that delivery is important and that many of the projects should be mainstreamed. The Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform's strategy document contains a particular tactic which is to mainstream projects into the departmental strategy. I accept what the Deputy says about people at risk and about the action, or lack thereof, on the part of the Department of Education and Science. I fully accept that people from socially deprived areas dropping out of school often move into circumstances which allow the drug culture to take up where the education system left off.
With regard to methadone and the national drugs strategy, the committee can return to that subject in the new year and discuss whether it is overly relied upon to the exclusion of other lifestyle issues which may have to be dealt with. It is a difficult issue. While I fully agree with the Deputy, there are lifestyle issues at play and it requires massive intervention to change people's lifestyles. As Deputy Paul McGrath said, if that is to be done for every town and village, the measures taken must be realistic and cannot involve the establishment of a few pilot programmes here and there to deal with the issue.
Deputy Costello asked how many people had been detained for the five to seven day period during the lifetime of the Act. The answer is that one person has been detained for that extended period.
Was that person charged?
I hope so after all that effort. People talk of the necessity for further detention for the purpose of investigation. When I entered office, I found proposals on my desk for extending periods of detention. The Commissioner of the Garda Síochána, Mr. Pat Byrne, has told me it is his general view that lengthy detention is not the real way to crack crime. The notion that putting people away for long enough will make them confess eventually is wrong. If a person has not co-operated with an investigation within 48 hours, generally speaking, extended detention is not very effective.
Deputy Costello also mentioned the amount of drugs seized and available. In Soviet society, a miner called Stakhanov began to get orders of merit for mining more and more coal. The phrase Stakhanovite emerged to describe those who always dealt in quotas and quantities to the exclusion of everything else. Whereas we have identified targets for gardaí to work towards in terms of quantity, we must first acknowledge that all of those quantities are relative to what is available. There is something artificial about fixing a 30% or 50% increase for a particular time, although this helps to motivate people and allows them to believe that if a target is reached somebody will know they have done a good job. I do not want to get carried away about targets, but they are sometimes worthwhile.
Deputy Paul McGrath made some good points with regard to the awareness issue. A campaign is to be launched in the new year, which will run over a three year period. This will not just be a quick public relations campaign aimed at resolving the issue before we retire thinking that everybody will be kept happy for a while; it will be a sustained three year media campaign in which radio, television, newspapers, poster advertising, sports personalities and sports organisations will be used. Resources will be deployed across the board to persuade people and make them more aware.
Deputy Hoctor mentioned confidentiality and asked what people are supposed to do if they are offered cocaine in a nightclub or pub. I accept her point and compliment her on her insight. There is no point leaving vulnerable teenagers wondering: "What am I to do? Is it cool to tell and will I be a pariah in my local society or a victim of retaliation if I do tell?" The point is well made, and will be taken on board and fed into the media campaign.
Returning to Deputy McGrath's point, I noticed that in The Sunday Times last week David Quinn, a very original thinker, stated that in respect of some of these issues it was also a question of beginning to bring some rigour to our values. He stated that if one did not want children aged 12 to 16 years to engage in activities involving drugs or sex, one should not use excusatory language, such as the word “experimentation”, as if it was just part of the process of growing up. Some things may be part of the process of growing up - I am not an old prude - but others are lethally dangerous. We do not talk about experimentation with semtex when growing up. Experimentation with heroin is lethal. We must reach the point where some of the language we use supports much more the underlying value that this is not simply youthful indiscretion, that it is crazy, self-destructive and potentially fatal. We will have to turn the tide slightly in relation to the language we use. Without getting carried away on this point, there is a tendency to dilute all values out of language. This gets across, in particular, to young teenagers who are always highly moral and idealistic. They are not cynics but sense it when the moral defences go down or the moral quality of language is leached out cynicism. We will have to deal with this.
The spiking of drinks is a very serious issue on which the Minister of State, Deputy O'Dea, launched a programme recently in respect of which posters have been put up and leaflets are available. I do not know how long they will last or how they are being distributed——
Was it included in the posters?
There was a good deal of press publicity about how women, in particular, could protect themselves from the danger of this happening to them for the purposes of making them victims of sexual crime. The dangers are fairly significant and there are simple rules which can be followed. We set them out in a recent press release. They are that if one is in untrustworthy or unfamiliar company one should make sure that somebody looks after the drinks on such occasions, that one should not just go off and leave one's drink behind and that one should take a long, hard look and realise that as one has a few drinks, one's scepticism and capacity to remain on the alert is reduced. A very useful leaflet has been published by the Department in relation to this issue, something which should be dealt with.
Deputy McGrath referred to provincial towns and villages. In the near future we will turn the local drugs task forces into regional task forces. They will include the regional drug co-ordinators of health boards, local authority members, VEC members, health board employees, representatives of the Department of Education and Science, public representatives nominated by local authorities and representatives of various other groups.
Deputy McGrath also raised an interesting point about the profile of a drug pusher, in response to which the Chairman said it could be one of our own children, which I suppose is true. I would like to see research done on drug pushers to ascertain, for example, whether any of them is holding down a job as a front or whether they all operate outside employment. Perhaps there are more scientific ways to begin to profile those to whom more attention should potentially be paid in communities, but that is a matter for the GNDU to research.
The Chairman made some points about crack cocaine. There is no evidence of the local manufacture or processing of cocaine into crack cocaine in Ireland. Research is being carried out by the addiction research centre in Trinity College as part of a European-wide study of crack cocaine in Europe. I will, therefore, be able to come up with better information on the matter the next time I appear before the committee. The recent arrest of a non-national to which the Chairman referred does not seem - I am speaking on the basis of very limited intelligence - to have been made on the basis of production in Ireland. The Chairman may rest assured that it is a very important point from our perspective because crack cocaine is a very aggressive drug and associated with horrific violence.
The Chairman also referred to the sheer violence of what is happening now. I fully agree with his insight that as one takes away the more established godfathers through the CAB process and so on, one is left with a young generation of individuals in their mid-twenties who are displaying appalling viciousness, cruelty and utter murderous intent. They seem to live in a demi-world where to shoot somebody's head off has the same moral significance as pushing somebody out of one's way. Unfortunately, they account for a very significant volume of drug trafficking and dealing. This utterly ruthless, completely valueless but very frightening generation of young drug lords thinks it rules the roost and can kill anybody who gets in its way. In Dublin and other cities, including Limerick, this kind of utter ruthlessness is coming to the fore. I find this profoundly disturbing.
The Garda is constantly tackling major drug trafficking groups and trying to break their distribution. However, it has a huge fight on its hands. It is in direct contact with law enforcement agencies in other jurisdictions. There are Garda liaison officers posted in Europol and Interpol and also in London, Paris, Madrid and The Hague as part of the fight against drugs. We are trying to disrupt, break, follow and detect international drugs supply lines, but I cannot disagree with the Chairman that the viciousness we are now seeing is breathtaking. When people are willing to treat human life as disposable to the extent that they apparently do, it shows how necessary it is to keep up the fight against drugs and, to use Deputy O'Connor's phrase, not to take the foot off the accelerator.
We have now completed our consideration of the motion. I thank the Minister and his officials for coming here today. We will, I hope, see them again next Tuesday before the forthcoming Justice and Home Affairs Council meeting. We will also consider another motion which has been referred to the committee.