Areas of Dublin city have had a serous drug problem since the early eighties when heroin abuse was at epidemic proportions in part of my constituency in the north inner city. The drug problem in the inner city now ranks alongside the area's other major social problems and is, no doubt, related directly to them. These include endemic unemployment, substandard housing, lack of educational opportunity and an inadequate health service. Those problems, as well as other factors, combine to create an environment where some young people despairingly turn to hard drugs and become dependent on the pushers who exploit them.
Many young people have died, many more have had their lives destroyed, while an increasing number are now infected with the HIV virus. Local people in the past organised to fight the drug pushers and drive them out. The local Garda drug unit has been to the forefront in pursuing the pushers and bringing many of them before the courts. Despite all this there is yet again an alarming and spiralling availability of heroin in the area. This is the message I have been getting in recent weeks from community workers and local tenants leaders. Their alarm seems to have been echoed by recent press reports of comments attributed to the chairman of the Coolmine therapeutic centre, of which I am sure the Minister is aware.
This alarming increase has also been highlighted by the seizure a week ago of over £100,000 worth of heroin, the largest single seizure here in recent years. The problems has been compounded by the arrival here of the drug "ecstasy". Despite efforts from various quarters to promote this new drug as a safe sophisticated trip, young people in my constituency have ended up in psychiatric hospitals as a result of this new, so called "safe" drug. In spite of all the media attention and the promises made by successive Governments and Minister for Justice, a great deal more needs to be done to get to grips with what is now a spiralling drugs problem.
The social conditions of the inner city and other urban areas need comprehensive renewal, yet the opposite is happening. The local authority house building programme, for example, has been all but scrapped and the refurbishment of flats complexes in the inner city is inadequately funded. If the social conditions are not tackled then all the Garda action the Minister can muster will not solve the problem.
One of the most frustrating factors from those concerned with putting the drug pushers off the streets and behind bars is the fact that the main suppliers are individuals who have already been caught red-handed, brought before the courts, charged and remanded on bail. I will not refer to specific cases before the courts, but drug suppliers remanded on bail tend to accelerate and increase their drug pushing activities while awaiting their next court appearance. There are even cases at present where drug suppliers are caught in possession of drugs while on bail, charged in court with a second offence — in some instances with a third offence — and then released on bail to continue their deadly business. This is a disgraceful dereliction of duty on the part of the Judiciary concerned. This problem must be resolved if the amount of drugs on our streets is to be significantly reduced. Some members of our Judiciary are totally out of touch and far too complacent about the heroin problem in Dublin.
I also ask the Minister to take the following proposals on board. Garda efforts to defeat the pushers depend to a large extent on time consuming surveillance and local knowledge, local contacts, etc. If we accept that much, then it follows that each Garda district with a serious drug problem should have a special Garda drug unit specifically targeting suppliers in their areas. This is an absolute priority. The recent success of the local Garda drug unit in the north inner city — I congratulate them on this — in the seizure of £100,000 of heroin in the flats complex is an example of how a local unit can successfully operate and achieve results. Yet there are areas of Dublin city which do not have any such local drug unit. The unit to which I have referred are seriously overstretched with responsibility for several areas, each of which has a major drugs problem.
I rarely refer to specific areas in case they are stigmatised, but I have been specifically asked to draw attention to the almost endemic drug problem in the Sheriff Street area and in St. Mary's Mansions in Seán McDermott Street. The vast majority of the people who live in these areas are appalled by the drug pushers who use their areas and they want them out. I believe the Garda and Dublin Corporation should tackle this problem jointly.
On a previous occasion in this House I referred to the case of a major drugs seizure during the early eighties when almost £400,000 of heroin was seized, perhaps the largest single seizure of heroin in this country. A member of a leading criminal family associated with the heroin trade was charged but the matter was never finalised. The person concerned left the jurisdiction. That person is now back in this jurisdiction but has not been brought back before the courts. I ask the Minister to pursue this very serious problem as a matter of urgency.
