2026-01-15

It is great to have the Minister of State, Deputy Brophy in the Chamber again today. It follows on from the conversation that was initiated by my colleague, Deputy Hearne, earlier. The Ceann Comhairle was not in the Chair herself but there was quite a furore in the Chamber earlier. My colleague was speaking on behalf of a constituent of his, Amanda Uwase, who was in the Gallery at the time. Over Christmas, Amanda's family experienced an absolutely terrifying ordeal very few of us could even comprehend, when their home was targeted in an arson attack. The Garda is investigating so I will not speak to the specifics of the incident, more to the follow-up. Deputy Hearne was making the point that there are perhaps differences in how some communities are being policed. The community which Amanda came from is quite disadvantaged. That resulted in some interruptions, and understandably so. It is a charge that is highly emotive. One may consider it to be fair or unfair and that is absolutely fine. I went for a cup of coffee with Amanda after the session. She was speaking to the horror of seeing her house targeted, having to go back inside a burning home to rescue two of her siblings and watch another of her siblings jump from a second-storey window through which she, too, had to leave the premises, and then wait for the fire brigade to come and get her mother from the burning building. It was terrifying. In the weeks that have passed, Amanda's family has not been allocated a Garda liaison officer yet. I find that extraordinary. They have been placed in an accommodation that is not only too small but also minutes away from the home that was targeted. They are absolutely terrified. The council they are dealing with has not been overly responsive. Amanda today, with a bandage still on her arm, had to do another interview with the media. She is so frustrated by the lack of engagement from the State with her family's experience that she has had to park her trauma and muster the courage to speak to RTÉ earlier in the week and another media outlet today. That does mean something. I cannot imagine another community being targeted and not receiving comprehensive engagement from the State. There was an horrendous incident in Edenderry at the start of December where a child was murdered in an arson attack, again, a four-year-old and a 60-year-old caregiver who was his great aunt. I expected to come into the Dáil that week to have statements and to hear it described as a line that we shall not cross again, and that we must really get to grips with these incidents.

Deputy, I just want to be careful because these are all under investigation. I know the Deputy is cognisant of that.

I will speak more broadly. I will not even refer to the fact that a woman in Clondalkin opened her door to be smeared with petrol and set on fire also. There have been 2,500 incidents of drug-related intimidation since 2001. Of these, over 150 were arson attacks linked to drug-related intimidation. Arson attacks connected to drug crime rose sharply, from just 13 in 2022 to about 50 last year. Despite more arrests, only 4% of cases have led to prosecutions. Recorded incidence of drug-related intimidation overall has increased by roughly 38% since 2001. It is fair to say we are reaching extraordinary levels of intimidation targeted at particular communities. It is not just urban communities. I appreciate that there has been a significant increase in smaller, rural environments. I have no clue as to what the response is from the State. I know we have one small initiative that is badly funded and poorly advertised, yet we have what can only be described as pandemic levels of intimidation being experienced by communities. There have been no statements on the matter, no major interventions, nobody tweeting from their accounts, just silence. I would love to hear what the Minister of State and his Department are doing about this issue.

I have a reply on behalf of the Minister, Deputy Jim O'Callaghan, to the topical issue as originally put forward. I was here earlier on for the Deputy's intervention. I am very glad to have an opportunity to make this point. From where I was sitting, I felt and still feel that some of the Deputy's comments were totally unacceptable. An Garda Síochána is an organisation which this country can be justly proud of. It investigates all crimes equally and fairly. There was a major attempt made by the Deputy and his colleague to politicise or to imply that there were other motivations or reasons why An Garda Síochána was not acting in a particular case. I think that is wrong. I acknowledge and endorse the remarks the Minister, Deputy Burke, made in his answer to the Deputy in relation to the bravery and wonderful contribution people make when they come to our country. They should never have to encounter that type of violence but I will stand by An Garda Síochána. I will not ever sit and listen to Deputies who I believe, for political point-scoring reasons, are trying to undermine one of the institutions of the State. On the more general point, I will outline some of what we are doing. I assure the Deputy that we are tackling the scourge of drug dealing and targeting organised crime groups who intimidate and inflict violence and misery on families. Drug-related intimidation is a pervasive issue that inflicts profound harm on individuals and families. I am conscious that such intimidation can be a terrifying experience for families. I agree with the Deputy that, unfortunately, we have seen several incidents of this serious and reprehensible criminal behaviour recently. I assure him though that tackling drug intimidation is a major priority for An Garda Síochána, which he probably does not accept. It is successful in securing convictions and putting those responsible behind bars. The Garda Commissioner has tasked an inspector in every Garda division to respond to the issue of drug-related intimidation. Investigations and convictions cannot happen, however, without people coming forward and reporting instances of drug-related violence and intimidation. We want to significantly reduce the harms caused to families and communities by illicit drug use. The three main policy objectives of the Minister in this area are: tackling organised crime; minimising the harms caused to those with addiction issues; and diverting people from involvement in crime. We know that organised crime groups are the ones carrying out these threats. The Government is fully committed to providing An Garda Síochána with the resources needed to fight organised crime. That is reflected, and again the Deputy will probably not give us any credit for this, in a budget of €2.74 billion in 2026. An Garda Síochána operates Operation Tara, which aims to disrupt, dismantle and prosecute drug trafficking networks, at all levels, which is again something the Deputy will probably just dismiss. Under Operation Tara, individuals and groups involved in the drug trade are the target of enforcement activity based on intelligence and the latest crime trends. In terms of minimising harms, An Garda Síochána takes the issue of drug-related intimidation extremely seriously. The Garda will afford the person or family subject to a threat with the best level of security, advice and support that can be offered. Most importantly, An Garda Síochána will deal with this issue in the utmost confidential and secure manner. In May of last year, the Minister and Minister of State, Deputy Murnane O'Connor, launched the drug-related intimidation and violence engagement, DRIVE, project. DRIVE brings together law enforcement, health services, social services and community organisations to tackle drug-related intimidation from multiple perspectives. It operates on a national scale across Ireland, ensuring consistent and comprehensive support in all regions. DRIVE’s primary goal is to establish effective systems and structures for a unified, timely and sensitive response to drug-related intimidation. It focuses on responding to incidents, supporting those affected and preventing future occurrences. There are also over 400 publicly-funded drug services, including family support services, across the country, which advise and support people affected by drug-related intimidation.

I went back and read Deputy Hearne's contribution as the Minister of State was speaking. His contribution was targeted at the Department of justice and the Minister responsible. We do not doubt for a second the work of the Garda, given the supports available to it. It is not the Garda itself that leaves police stations understaffed or undermanned. That is the responsibility of those who allocate budgets, which is the Government. I find it quite insulting to the Garda that because we have an exchange in the Chamber to do with budgetary allocations and absolute priorities, the Minister of State says we are going after the Garda. Let me be clear: we are going after his Department - the Department of justice. It was not the Garda, for example, that failed to facilitate a parliamentary discussion on drug-related intimidation, which we have been asking for since early December. It was the Government and Chief Whip, who was present today, that did not allow those discussions. Please do not conflate the two. Gardaí do a difficult job in difficult circumstances. It is the absence of priority from the Government that enables a scenario in which some communities are absolutely not policed as well as others. That is also something the Minister has written into the record of this House, when he said that there are parts of Dublin that are not as safe as other parts. Which parts was he referring to exactly? Probably not his constituency in Dublin 4. It is definitely the more marginalised communities that are left to deal with these incidents. It is also hard to take the Government seriously when it tells me that it is tackling drug-related and gang-related intimidation and violence when we see that only 4% of cases have led to prosecutions. That is only 4% of cases out of 2,500 incidents since 2021. I would like to work with the Department on prioritising the issue of drug-related intimidation. It is very clearly costing lives and destroying communities. The DRIVE programme is a good start but it does not have the right level of funding allocation. People do not know too much about it and it is not endemic in the heart of the communities that are most impacted by the violence we are discussing.

We are doing stuff. I will take a few moments to outline what we are doing. Among the number of key actions we have taken is to increase the maximum sentence for conspiracy to murder from ten years to life and enact new laws that criminalise the grooming of children into a life of crime, which is legislation that is at the forefront of anything any other European country is doing. We are drafting new laws that will provide for the use of facial recognition technology and investigation of certain drug offences. We are rolling out the support programme to break the link between gangs and the children they try to recruit. I also mention in particular the Criminal Assets Bureau. The motivator for all the organised crime groups when it comes to dealing drugs is money. CAB is at the forefront of fighting organised crime in this country and disrupting its activities. The Minister is progressing legislation that will strengthen the State's ability to seize criminal assets and target the proceeds of crime. The new Bill was also speed up the process of disposing of seized assets. This Government is fully committed to fighting drug gangs, crime and resourcing An Garda Síochána. It is fully committed to making sure that is done in a way that treats everybody fairly and equally, enables An Garda Síochána to go after people who are committing crimes that we do not want to see and doing everything in our power to ensure that the Garda has the resources to tackle them