'Crippling and killing families': Longford senator urges national crackdown on drug debt intimidation

LONGFORD Senator Joe Flaherty has called for a national initiative to tackle drug-related intimidation and debt, urging the Government and Garda Commissioner to take action against what he described as a “silent killer” crippling families across rural Ireland.

Speaking in the Seanad on Tuesday, Senator Flaherty said:

“It is a week on since the tragic deaths of Philip and Kim English and their two sons... If anything good is to come out of this, it shines a light on what has been almost normalised as drug debts. There is no such thing as a drug debt. The sale of drugs in this country is illegal.

“Anybody involved in the sale of drugs is committing an illegal act. Anyone who owes them money is not in debt. For too long, we have allowed it to be brushed under the carpet. We have not given the people caught in this constant spiral the support and help they need at the most difficult times.

Senator Flaherty continued: “We saw the effects CAB had on the drug dealers in that it went after their money. We should go after this money as well and after the pain and the anguish they are unleashing across the community.

“This is not just confined to Dublin and the big cities like Waterford and Galway. It is across rural Ireland. I will tell the tale, with his permission, of a small farmer and his wife who have two sons. The two of them got caught up in a spiral of drugs which the parents never would have thought would happen.

“Suddenly, calls started coming to the door, cars coming into the yard late at night looking for money, demanding money with menace and constantly putting the family under fear and intimidating them. Ultimately, that man was forced to sell off all his cattle to pay off the drug debts. There is no human way those two boys could have consumed the amount of drugs the drug gang claimed in the value of that money.

Senator Flaherty said this is “one of the most heinous crimes” because “it preys on that bond” between parents and their children.

“Beyond doubt, we are failing these families because they have no support. I am tired of parents coming to me to tell me they are in this situation and there is no point going to An Garda Síochána. In fairness, An Garda Síochána says there is very little it can do.

“We have to put a structure in place once and for all and we need a national initiative from the Government, the Taoiseach and the Minister for Justice, Home Affairs and Migration down, along with the Garda Commissioner, to tackle this scourge that is plaguing the country and crippling and killing families. It is a silent killer that is worse than the drugs themselves.”

Senator Paraic Brady also raised the issue of arson attacks in towns and villages.

“We have seen a number of arson attacks in the county of Longford where cars have been burned. It is basically a turf war between drug families. We have seen these people decimate cars and vehicles, and it certainly links into what Senator Flaherty said about people coming to families looking for money for drug debts and one thing or another.

“There is also another part of it where young people run up a debt and they then have to deliver drugs for these people with their own private cars. If they get caught, they are charged rather than those who supplied them with the drugs. It is a huge problem, and it also links into our free legal aid system. These people who supply the drugs are getting free legal aid. A lot of them have made money from the drug trade and are driving around in relatively new vans and cars worth in excess of €80,000 or €100,000, and yet they can still seek free legal aid. Where has thec, CAB, gone to?

Is there any way we can strengthen CAB and start hitting these people where it hurts?... They should not be allowed free legal aid. We should also look at the amount of money going into these homes in social welfare benefits. Maybe that is where we should start hitting these families, and we need to raise this issue in this House, because it sends out the wrong message to the hard-working and decent people of Ireland that crime actually pays for these people.

“I would like to see exactly where CAB has gone, and we might see a couple of raids coming into the Longford area in the not-too-distant future.”