Vol. 500 No. 3
103 Cecilia Keaveney asked the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform the total number of arrests made in the first half of 1998 in each of the districts in County Donegal; the percentage of these which were drug related; the percentage of those charged with addresses outside this jurisdiction; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [3889/99]
I am informed by the Garda Síochána that the information which the Deputy has sought is not readily available and could only be obtained by the expenditure of a disproportionate amount of staff time and resources, involving a manual inspection of the records of every Garda station in County Donegal. The Garda have informed me that statistics relating to drug offences in County Donegal in 1998 are not yet available but they have furnished me with 1997 drug offences statistics as follows.
104 Cecilia Keaveney asked the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform the number of arrests made in the second half of 1998 in each of the districts in County Donegal; the percentage of these that were drug related; the percentage of those charged with addresses outside the jurisdiction; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [3890/99]
I am informed by the Garda Síochána that the information which the Deputy has sought is not readily available and could only be obtained by the expenditure of a disproportionate amount of staff time and resources, involving a manual inspection of the records of every Garda station in County Donegal. The Garda have informed me that statistics relating to drug offences in County Donegal in 1998, are not yet available but they have furnished me with 1997 drug offences statistics as follows.
A total of 143 persons were prosecuted for offences under the Misuse of Drugs Act, in the Garda division of Donegal, in 1997, one aged under 17 years, 49 aged between 17 and 21 years, and the remaining 93 aged over 21 years. Of those, 129 persons were prosecuted for possession of controlled drugs, under section 3 of the Misuse of Drugs Act, 1977, 12 persons were prosecuted for possession of controlled drugs for unlawful sale or supply, under section 15 of the Misuse of Drugs Act, 1977 and two other persons were prosecuted for other offences under the Misuse of Drugs Act, 1977. Cannabis was the controlled substance seized in 75 per cent of the cases, ecstasy was seized in 18 per cent of the cases, and LSD and amphetamines were seized in the remaining 7 per cent of the cases.
