Mattie McGrath on Ireland's drug crisis: 'Our society is in free fall'

Deputy McGrath. Deputy McGrath. The Mr Minta and Dr Coran and the Pfingles for bringing forward this very important motion here tonight. The numbers involved are truly staggering in Tara. As the motion indicates, individuals, families and communities throughout the country have been devastated by illegal drugs. Drug-related deaths in Ireland are the highest figure ever, increasing from 141 in 2004 to 736 in 2016, while increasing the value of drug teachers from 29,706,000 in 2016 to 71,859,000 in 2017. As all of us know, the community is blighted by this scourge, but so I guarantee that for that matter the oral health services have the adequate resources or personnel to deal with the crisis. Of course they don't. It's just shocking what's going on. On the eastern Tipperary, a man was arrested after 110,000 worth of cocaine and cannabis found in his care. He was travelling in the vehicle on Wednesday in the Kilcommon area. Gardie stopped the care before discovering cocaine and cannabis estimated to be worth 70,000 and 40,000 respectively. There's no doubt that this is just the tip of the iceberg. Our society and our culture is in free fall. Young people and many more ordinary people are now living in a culture where casual drugs is used to normalise and even expect it. If you do not drink or take drugs, there is something wrong with you. That is the perception we have allowed to be created. The European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction Report in Ireland for 2018 has observed the following. The available data suggests that drug use has become more common among the adult general population aged 15 to 64 in Ireland. Over recent years, fewer than 2 in 10 adults reported use of illicit drugs and indeed a lifetime of 2007 to 2003, but this figure increased to approximately 3 in 10 in 14-15. The recent survey in 14-15 confirms that cannabis remains the most commonly used illicit drug, followed by MDMA, ecstasy and cocaine. All of the statistics indicate that urgent action needs to be taken pursuant to robust anti-dike strategy. And Minister and Gioncola, it is shocking what's going on. And we sat, I sat for three and a half hours last week, and Deputy Carpenter as well, with our new Garda Commissioner, who closed his eyes to all of this and does nothing, no problem. And we have six Garda in the Drugs Task Force in Tipperary. We would need six in Clarmel alone. We'd need 60 in the county. It's an epidemic. And when I hear deputies like Deputy Kenny here saying it's social and recreation and everything else, we're trying to sanitise this epidemic. But we can't sanitise it because it's devastating impacts and they want to legalise, you name it. Here's them all in a list here and it's lovely and it's sexy and it's dandy. I tell you it's not. It's wreaking havoc on our communities up and down the country here. And a blind eye has been turned by this department. Your seven predecessors or maybe eight of them got together last week, Minister, or really this week. And I saw them and I walked closely with some of them, like the former Minister Pat Carey, and they expressed horror and shock that what's going on. And the Garda, they're not turning blind eye to it, sorry. They have the numbers, they have the resources, they have the wherewithal to deal with it. I'm not blaming you, Minister, but you are in charge of this government here, and three and a half years into it. And you have just allowed it to mushroom and take part because you've the posh guys in the government here. I won't say what I'm going to say, but the posh guys, that everything is fine, everything is dandy. Let them eat cake. Let them eat cake in the country. While Rome burns, we are devastated. I have children, I have grandchildren just born and I'm proud to have them and lucky, they're privileged to have them. Where are they born into? It's devastating what's going on. The drugs, the corruption, the money, the deportation and the bullying. In my own town in Clannmell in Tipperary, in Carrick and Shore, we don't have Gardaí. Forget about it. I gave the resources to the Commissioner last week. I haven't heard to the Minister recently. They don't care. They don't want to know. They're fine, just down there in Carrick and Shore doesn't bother us. It's disgraceful that ordinary tax, law-abiding, tax-paying citizens are left to deal with like this. And they're out of suicides. And they're out of threats and intimidation. And they're out of bullying that goes on with small drug debts. And families in a weekly basis in my clinics, where loved ones are in their graves, and they have been bullied and threatened to pay their debts. And it's going on all under the radar. And it's all fine. It's not fine. It's just an epidemic that's going to encapsulate us and drag us down. And for these so-called lefts, I won't call them loony lefts, liberal lefts, they want to legalise it. And everything is fine. They don't know what they're playing with. They have problems here in Dublin. But we have them as big now in the country. And it's getting bigger. And I tell you what, it's going to be worse than the plague. Because it is a plague. And we have gangs in Clannmell who are terrorising. And they have ethnic status. And no one can touch them. Because people are terrorising them and they guarantee they can't touch them. And what's worse than that, when they go to raid them now after several pleas by many people to raid them. They have Tim Offcott. It's a dirty, murky underworld. A dirty, murky underworld. You can calm me down if you like. It's going on in front of my eyes. I'm living through it. And we're going to suffer the consequences. And these marauding gangs of thugs and bullies with their sulkeys and with their bikes and everything else. And nobody can challenge them. And they have the resources to tackle them. And it's the same with every other town in the village and the country as well. Gangs, warfare, money. And it's all about power. And if we don't deal with it very soon, there will be no dealing with it. Graeme Hacut. Graeme Hacut. Graeme Hacut. Graeme Hacut. Graeme Hacut. Graeme Hacut. Graeme Hacut. Graeme Hacut. Graeme Hacut. Graeme Hacut. Graeme Hacut. Graeme Hacut. Graeme Hacut. Graeme Hacut. Graeme Hacut. Graeme Hacut. Graeme Hacut. Graeme Hacut. Graeme Hacut. Graeme Hacut. Graeme Hacut. Graeme Hacut. Graeme Hacut.