Gang wars to ‘spread over the country’

THE country is experiencing a gangland and drugs crisis, with entire communities facing intimidation on a regular basis, a major drugs conference has heard.

In a call for communities to “stand up” against the drug barons, a leading drugs worker also predicted that unless something was done there would be widespread gang feuds “all over the country” within the next five years.

Another drug project worker also said it was dealing with children as young as 11 and asked how young do drug users have to be before the state treated the problem as a crisis.

The conference, organised by the CityWide Drugs Crisis Campaign, also heard of research showing that community drugs projects had been hit by a 20% funding cut in the last two years.

Susan Collins of Addiction Response Crumlin (ARC), a long-running drugs project in south-west Dublin, said there could be 17 shootings in the Crumlin-Drimnagh area alone over two days and people wouldn’t hear about it. A vicious feud between rival gangs in the area has claimed 13 lives in the past 10 years.

“We now have a gangland crisis and intimidation of whole communities. We are going to have gang feuds all over the country within the next five years,” said Ms Collins.

She said communities had to “stand up” for themselves and could not depend solely on the gardaí. “Gardaí can’t be everywhere. If I stand up and speak, they can’t protect my car from being damaged. Communities all have to stand up.”

She said the “time for talking had finished”, but said she was not talking about vigilantism.

Ms Collins said community policing forums, promised under successive government drugs strategies, were a “good idea”. Three of the forums — which bring together local people, gardaí and council officials — have been set up and a total of 20 are planned.

The conference was attended by over 100 drug workers from across the country and was opened by Drugs Minister Pat Carey.

Megan O’Leary of the Family Support Network said levels of violence directed against families “seemed to have escalated”.

She said research they published in June 2009 showed families suffered physical violence, including assaults, shootings and bomb attacks, because of debts owed by their children or siblings to dealers.

She said families were forced under duress to take out loans of up to €60,000 to pay off debts.

Ms O’Leary said it was hard to expect these people to put their lives, and those of their children, at risk by standing up to local gangs.

Jimmy Norman, of ARC’s under-18s project, said they were dealing with 11 and 12-year-olds who were taking tablets and alcohol. “We need more early intervention.”

Social researcher Brian Harvey said if the same levels of intimidation were happening in middle class areas, a lot more would be done about it.

Separately, Fr Seán Healy, director of Social Justice Ireland, said Budget 2011 should protect those who are among the most vulnerable. He said worsening the lives of these people through cuts to save the banks and square our finances would create “a deeper and more long-lasting” problem.