SPECIAL REPORT, DAY 1: “You can almost dial for heroin in Cork now”

“You can almost dial for heroin in Cork now,” says Sinn Féin councillor Chris O’Leary.

We’re sitting in the living room of his home in Mahon where he says scores of parents have sat before me, frantic with worry about heroin use on their road, about known dealers’ cars flying into the estate, dropping bags and about the house parties that, they dread their kids will end up at.

“Dereliction has certainly created a problem as there are all these empty facilities around the place and they’re being used as squats for parties.”