A NEW series of measures has been proposed to increase the powers and resources of local gardaí in the fight against drugs – and additional recruits is the main priority identified.
Kerry general election candidate, Cllr Norma Moriarty, said the county is not immune to the scourge of drugs and related crime which has seeped into too many communities.
“The illegal drugs trade has been allowed to fester and grow at the same time as local garda numbers were being depleted. Not enough is being done to support our local gardaí in preventing an escalation of this criminality and we are failing to steer young people away from drug use,” she said.
Cllr Moriarty said the garda force needs to stand at 16,000 gardaí across the country and it must be resourced to operate 24-hour around the clock surveillance of the gang leaders that are controlling the sale and supply of drugs.
“They know who they are – they just need the resources to monitor them,” she said.
The Fianna Fáil election candidate added that there is a need to strengthen the laws around jailing gang criminals, giving gardaí the same powers criminals as they have with the Provisional IRA.
That would allow the “belief” of a chief superintendent that someone was involved in gangland crime to be introduced into evidence.
“The unavoidable fact is that there would be no drugs trade without the drug users. We need to target young people that are particularly at risk of being lured by drugs and the associated criminality”, said Cllr Moriarty.
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