INDEPENDENT DUBLIN North Central TD Finian McGrath called for a Garda crackdown on people involved in the recreational use of illegal drugs.
He said he would show no mercy to well-off people with money who generated a market for drugs. “I refer specifically to those involved in the music industry, the media, television and such people . . . whom we all know . . . and some of whom joke or brag about it,” Mr McGrath added.
He said he was talking “about the posh, middle-class people who go looking for their little bit of cocaine on a Friday or Saturday night”.
He added: “Drug dealers do not make money unless there is a huge market. There is a reluctance with regard to certain people . . . but they should be hammered.
“People in Irish life, including so-called celebrities who are involved in that trade and who sniff their bit of cocaine at the weekend, should be hammered and used as an example.
“It is very easy to get the young people from Coolock, or the inner city, and hammer them for doing something related to drugs.”
Mr McGrath was speaking during the debate on the Criminal Justice (Surveillance) Bill, which passed its final stages.
Minister for Justice Dermot Ahern said that while he was inclined to agree with Mr McGrath, he did not wish to paint everyone with the same brush.
“It would be unfair to say that all members of the media or the music profession indulge,” the Minister added. “However, I agree with his overall sentiment that some people fuel demand and, clearly, people are filling that gap.”
Mr McGrath also said that constituents who gave him information for the Garda about criminals were afraid of reprisals.
He said that having passed on to him details of gangs, drugs or similar issues, people were very conscious that “their house, family or car will be burned out” if they were traced as the source. “This is the reality for many parents, particularly in very disadvantaged areas.”
Mr McGrath said that people whispered privately in the ears of TDs at constituency clinics or walkabouts about the sources of crime. “In my constituency, gardaí often want to use schools as observation points for drug dealing.
“However, if the word goes out that the school, or a particular classroom, is being used by gardaí, that school will not last 24 hours without being burnt down. This is a reality we must face and the people involved in justice and security issues must wake up to this situation.”
All citizens were entitled to their rights, he said. However, the right to life took priority and that was why he would support the legislation. They could not have young men in their 20s “shot down like dogs on the Malahide Road, as happened in recent days”.
