Crowe calls for urgent bolstering of Clare Garda drug division

Clare Fianna Fáil TD, Cathal Crowe, has called for the urgent strengthening of the unit tasked with tackling the use, sale and supply of drugs in County Clare.

According to Deputy Crowe: “Drugs are rampant in our communities and they destroy lives, break apart families, and directly line the pockets of criminals operating in the area.

“Whilst An Garda Siochana cannot publicly release the precise details of staffing within the Clare Divisional Drugs Unit for operational reasons, I am reliably informed that it consists of a skeleton crew who are simply overstretched and do not have the manpower or resources to effectively tackle this very important issue. Drug dealers know this and think they can operate with impunity in Clare.

“Drug busts in this county often attract media and public attention and while the operations often involve large numbers of officers, these are not all members of the divisional drugs unit and instead are drawn from rank-and-file Gardai, the Criminal Assets Bureau, the Armed Support Unit and other agencies. It is the critical work of the divisional drugs unit which often leads to these arrests and seizures but their staffing can appear larger when photos of these raids are circulated online or in the media.

“Our divisional drugs unit does exceptional work to weed out those facilitating the supply of drugs in Clare but with very limited staffing and resources they can only scratch the surface of this problem which is devastating communities.

“This is emblematic of wider Garda staffing issues within Clare which leaves many people feeling as if there is simply no Garda presence in their community, and this is no fault of the hardworking men and women of An Garda Siochana.

“I welcome recent measures to address this, such as an intensive recruitment drive for An Garda Siochana and commitments within the Programme for Government to increase the Garda numbers to provide 5,000 new Garda recruits and additional civilian staff over the next five years. I also welcome pilot initiatives by the new Minister for Justice, Jim O’Callaghan, such as the new Garda Youth Diversion Project, based in East Clare, which works with adolescents who are identified as being at risk of crime and intervenes to challenge and divert them from offending behaviour.

“There is a gratitude due to the crucial contribution of those working in Clare communities to assist those who are already engaged in drug taking or addiction and who want to break free from those chains.

“I must also acknowledge those families who I meet regularly in my office or at constituency advice clinics who have a loved one who has been sucked into a system of drug taking and reliance and who are left trying to piece together broken lives as a result, or repaying massive debts to drug dealers and have to face down the dangerous and destructive consequences of that.

“Those considering taking drugs need to be aware that the temporary highs they experience have serious consequences. In my five years in Dáil Eireann and 15 years as a Councillor before that, I have seen countless families who have been wrecked by the impact that addiction, drug related money lending, and serious illness or deaths, all as a result of drugs, has wrought on them.

“Those dealing drugs in this county need to know that justice will come for them and they will be answerable for their actions. For this message to fully get across and to deter future drug use or involvement in drug dealing we need a strong and fully resourced drugs division in this county and I will continue to fight for this.”