A teenager has died after taking tablets believed to be ecstasy, police said.

Detectives investigating a major cocaine and ecstasy seizure in Co Louth believe a local drug trafficking gang is involved.

A 16-year-old boy died after he took a lethal combination of the deadly opioid U-47700 in addition to ecstasy tablets, Cork Coroner’s Court heard yesterday.

One man is dead and four are critically ill in hospital after taking a "highly potent" form of the drug MDMA, British police have said.

Ecstasy and cannabis use is rising sharply in many parts of the country, particularly among young people, regional figures from a national drugs survey show.

Ecstasy and cannabis use is rising sharply in many parts of the country, particularly among young people, regional figures from a national drugs survey show, writes Cormac O'Keeffe.

Investigations are continuing after €60,000 worth of drugs were seized in Dublin last night.

Ecstasy tablets with an estimated street value of €120,000 were seized in Mitchelstown, Cork yesterday.

Two people arrested after a major drug seizure in Dublin yesterday have been released without charge.

A man has been jailed for nine years for possession of over €2.5m worth of cannabis which was found in two Dublin lockups.

A 25-year-old man has been arrested after the seizure of around €380,000 worth of ecstasy tablets in Clondalkin in West Dublin yesterday evening.

Ecstasy, crystal meth and other drugs were accidentally made legal yesterday - and the internet had a field day.

A new emergency law is due to be signed into law today to reinstate Ireland's ban on drugs like crystal meth and ecstasy.

Alexander Shulgin, who over the course of 40 years of scientific research created some 200 psychedelic compounds, earning the nickname "Godfather of ecstasy", has died at the age of 88.

Three people — in Cork, Offaly and Wexford — are now confirmed to have died in recent weeks after taking a rogue ecstasy batch containing a powerful amphetamine.

The HSE has warned of a highly dangerous batch of ecstasy tablets which has been linked to the deaths of two people in the last four days, one of them a teenager.