The biggest seizure of heroin ever made in Cork — a €350,000 stash — resulted in the accused man confessing to the crime yesterday.

Revenue officers have announced a seizure of almost 22kgs of cocaine in Rosslare Europort.

Record seizures of cocaine have been made in the European countries that account for the bulk of shipments to the continent, both in 2018 and again in 2019.

A Cork man who has turned his life around after overcoming his addiction to heroin received a first class honours masters degree in criminology at University College Cork (UCC) this week.

Methadone patients are four times more likely to overdose in the month after their treatment ends, according to a new study.

Reducing drug deaths has been made a national priority for An Garda Síochána under a new operation similar to the high-profile crackdown on burglaries.

The High Court has quashed a ruling by An Bord Pleanala regarding the Narconon drug rehabilitation centre in Ballivor, Co. Meath.

The study, which involved more than 15,000 school children, is supposed to be the most authoritative insight into the health and wellbeing of the country’s children.

Ireland and the rest of Europe is experiencing a “perfect storm” in terms of a booming cocaine market, a leading expert has said.

As gardaí uncovered an alleged cocaine-making lab in Galway, a Fianna Fáil councillor has revealed how drug dealers are “targeting secondary schools” in Limerick.

Teenagers are now budgeting for cocaine along with a dress or suit for their debs, a leading addiction therapist has claimed.

Last week’s grotesque discoveries, a casual murder at a student party and several crime-related shootings, must finally disabuse Ireland of the of the notion that this is an idyllic backwater immune to drug-related crime or violence.

Traces of cocaine were found on every single banknote tested in the west of Ireland as part of research into contaminated notes.

Clinicians should consider the risk posed by certain medication when determining treatment for patients at risk of self-harming or who have a record of doing so, according to a new study.

In his Christmas homily Archbishop Eamon Martin made timely reference to the scourge of human trafficking for which Ireland now appears to be a significant route.

More children are dealing drugs and selling them in secondary schools, according to research in a large Dublin suburb.

Two men have been arrested following a drug seizure in Kildare.

Gardaí have seized €900,000 worth of drugs and arrested three people in Louth.

Thirty-seven percent of inmates in the Mountjoy Prison complex are on methadone, which is normally used to treat an addiction to heroin.

The Minister for the National Drugs Strategy has said she hopes planning permission will be granted on appeal for a supervised injecting facility in Dublin.

Deaths linked to drug use reached a new high in 2017, with increases in cocaine fatalities and suicides contributing to the rise.

The author of the study into organised crime in Dublin, Dr Johnny Connolly, has said there are answers to the problem, but it is not going to be easy.

Research and accounts by five gardaí show criminal networks are becoming embedded in society and normalised due to fear, writes Security Correspondent Cormac O’Keeffe.

Fianna Fáil outlined how criminals are exploiting youngsters and how the law must be strengthened to protect minors from people getting them involved in the drugs trade.

The Kinahan drug cartel is a main driver in the surge of cocaine coming into Europe and Ireland’s middle- and high-income earners are “fuelling” the trade here, garda sources have said.

A report into the European drugs market has found that violence and intimidation by drug gangs has severely affected communities in Ireland and has had a major impact on individuals, families, and communities.

A booming cocaine trade has driven the value of the European drugs market to at least €30bn annually, according to a major report.

Value of the business has increased 60%, to €9.1bn, in the last three years, with a knock-on rise in violence, says Cormac O’Keeffe.

A new EU Drug Markets Report found cannabis to be the most popular substance followed by cocaine, heroin and then amphetamines.

Finance Minister Paschal Donohoe has intervened to prevent the setting up of a service for recovering drug addicts in his constituency.

Revenue yesterday seized over 540 grams of cocaine following a search under warrant of a house in the Rathborne area of Dublin.

Parents in a disadvantaged part of Dublin complain of an “underlying fear of intimidation or worse” in their community caused by an endemic drugs trade and anti-social behaviour.

Poly-drug use is having a more devastating effect than heroin did in the 90s, according to a community representative in Jobstown in Dublin.

Strict new laws are needed to stop gangs using young children to sell drugs, amid fears the growing drugs epidemic hitting the country is fuelling the involvement of minors in crime.

A man who was arrested in relation to a drugs seizure in Cork has been charged and is to appear in court this morning.

The Matt Talbot Adolescent Service treats 200 young addicts a year in Munster — but an ongoing HSE review may jeopardise its funding and its work, says Michael Clifford.

A group comprising every former Drugs Minister in the State has called for urgent action on the drugs crisis in Ireland, citing the situation as being “at epidemic proportions”.

A judge has said he is blue in the face and frustrated by the total lack of resources for addiction clinics here.

He told RTÉ radio’s Morning Ireland the drugs issue is being tackled in many ways.

Former ministers of State who have overseen the National Drugs Strategy will today warn that the partnership delivering the plan is “in danger of collapse” because powers are being centralised under the HSE.

Business leaders in Cork City have called for a “more boots on the ground” approach to policing following a surge in complaints about open drug-dealing and addicts shooting up in public.

A mother who lost three sons to heroin in three years has pleaded for more treatment places and for needle- exchange programmes to be scrapped.