Priest: Dealers less than human

A priest officiating at the funeral of a young man who is believed to have died as a result of taking a lethal form of ecstasy has condemned drug-dealers as “less than human” and “purveyors of grief and doom”.

Mourners at the requiem Mass for Liam Coffey, aged 22, who was found dead along with his friend Michael Coleman in Kinsale, Co Cork, on Sunday, heard that “ordinary, decent people” regard those who supplied drugs to young people with “contempt”.

Fr Robert Arthure pleaded with any young person listening to stay away from drugs, telling the ceremony in Affane, outside Cappoquin in Co Waterford, that while the results of Liam’s autopsy have not yet been published, “all the available evidence” pointed towards drugs.