Dublin South West and Sinn Fein TD Se\u00e1n Crowe has described the number of Garda S\u00edoch\u00e1na currently assigned to each Divisional Drugs Unit as totally inadequate for the amount of work at hand.Garda numbers he said are declining, while at the same time the drugs and the menace associated with the trade continues to grow.Crowe a member of the local Tallaght Drugs Task Force described the inaction of the Criminal Assets Bureau against many of the local businesses of drug dealers \u201cas illogical and extremely puzzling.\u201d<\/p>\n
Deputy Se\u00e1n Crowe said:<\/p>\n
\u201cDrug dealing and the ready availability of hard drugs are on the increase and no one in government can deny that. It is a lucky town or village across Ireland that hasn\u2019t been impacted in some way by our drugs epidemic, with a growing number of suicides being attributed to coming down off hard drugs or the pressure of mounting drug debts.<\/p>\n
\u201cRunning in tandem with this decline are the numbers of An Garda S\u00edoch\u00e1na currently dedicated and assigned to each Divisional Drugs Unit to tackle availability of illegal drugs.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have the spectacle of open drug dealing in many of our cities and towns with children as young as 12 years of age involved but there is no banner screaming headlines, and sadly little or no public outcry.<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople are frightened or unaware of the extent of drugs available.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe policy of ignoring Ireland\u2019s drugs crisis by officialdom has put vulnerable communities and individuals at serious risk, for far too long.<\/p>\n
\u201cAreas in Dublin that are the worst hit have seen a severe reduction in resources for Garda Drug Units with dedicated officers cut from 147 in 2011 to 114 this year.<\/p>\n
\u201cAny cursory look at Tallaght and its hinterland will confirm that the drugs problem has got steadily worse, while at the same time the State\u2019s response to actually tackle the problem have been shrinking or been withdrawn altogether.<\/p>\n
\u201cResponding to a recent parliamentary question I put to her, the Minister for Justice and Equality Frances Fitzgerald confirmed that the number of Garda\u00ed assigned to the DMR South Division drugs unit dropped from 30 in 2010 to 19 in March of this year \u2013 a reduction of 22 personnel.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis pattern cannot be allowed continue.<\/p>\n
\u201cAllowing this to fester corrupts society and encourages more of the same. The level of crime linked to drugs is escalating with the violence stemming from the drug trade continuing to rise and pose a serious danger to everyone.<\/p>\n
\u201cYoung school going children are being used as drug runners and the intimidation of families over alleged drug debts has grown beyond the few isolated cases of just a few years ago.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe call from many Drug Task Forces for the Criminal Assets Bureau (CAB) to be more active locally has been met with a blanket silence from Government and the Garda Authorities.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe use of CAB is logical progression and would be extremely popular in communities having to live cheek by jowl with drug dealing.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhile CAB\u2019s focus may be on \u2018Mr Big\u2019, communities are left with the sight of the middlemen and their minions, dealing on street corners, or in easily identified houses right in the heart of some neighbourhoods.<\/p>\n
\u201cResidents are also puzzled that the same known drug dealers seem immune from enforcement with many driving fancy cars, living lavish and opulent lifestyles.<\/p>\n
\u201cSeemingly free to buy up houses, shops, restaurants and other businesses a \u2018stone\u2019s throw\u2019 away from their main \u2018patch\u2019.<\/p>\n
\u201cSurely this has to stop as it sends all the wrong messages out to young people and those trapped in the cycle of drug taking and drug addiction.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Governments \u2018head in the sand\u2019 attitude to drugs related crisis is wrong and needs to stop. The fight against drugs needs new resources, new personnel and most importantly, a new and different approach.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Dublin South West and Sinn Fein TD Se\u00e1n Crowe has described the number of Garda S\u00edoch\u00e1na currently assigned to each Divisional Drugs Unit as totally inadequate for the amount of work at hand.Garda numbers he said are declining, while at the same time the drugs and the menace associated with the trade continues to grow.Crowe […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2780","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/seancrowe.ie\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2780","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/seancrowe.ie\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/seancrowe.ie\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/seancrowe.ie\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/seancrowe.ie\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2780"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/seancrowe.ie\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2780\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2781,"href":"http:\/\/seancrowe.ie\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2780\/revisions\/2781"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/seancrowe.ie\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2780"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/seancrowe.ie\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2780"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/seancrowe.ie\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2780"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}