GOVERNMENT MINISTER WITH RESPONSIBILITY FOR DRUGS PROBLEM BADLY NEEDED - KENNY

Posted on February 19, 2015 10:58 AM   |   Permanent Link   

Labour TD and member of the Oireachtas Justice Committee Sean Kenny, has said that a Minister with responsibility for the drugs problem that is faced by society is badly needed.

"The issue of a separate Minister to focus on drugs issues has been raised several times at the Oireachtas Justice Committee hearings on Gangland Crime by different community groups dealing with the scourge of crime in Dublin City, and I very much agree with them. One group who addressed the Oireachtas Justice committee yesterday stated that drug related crime was again on the increase in Dublin's North Inner City."

"There has been a Minister with responsibility for this issue previously, so the idea is not new, and it has also been shown to have worked. Pat Rabbitte was first Minister for the Drugs issue and pioneered the setting up of the Drugs Task Forces. His work was continued by Minister Pat Carey and both are widely held to have done an excellent job."

"My own view is that the initiatives taken by Pat Rabbitte and Pat Carey as a Minister dealing with the problem of drugs is something that needs to be built on and continued, and I intend to bring this up with Government, so that the problems caused by drugs get focussed attention from a Minister, which I believe is badly needed."