Dublin Narcos: former senior garda officer says drug laws should not change

Dean Scurry, Nicola Tallant, Former Garda Assistant Commissioner Michael O Sullivan, and Jessica Wade at the Sky preview screening of 'Dublin Narcos' which launches on Sky Documentaries. The three-part docu-series tells the story of how drugs changed the fabric of Dublin. Picture: Brian McEvoy

The current criminal approach to drugs should not be changed, a former senior garda officer with 45 years of experience in national and international law enforcement has said.

Michael O’Sullivan, who fought international drug gangs, including the Kinahan cartel, both in An Garda Síochána and in an EU drug interdiction agency, said that in his experience he hasn’t seen an alternative system that works.

Mr O’Sullivan was speaking at the launch of new Sky documentary Dublin Narcos in which both he and former commissioner Nóirín O’Sullivan, took part.

The slick three-part series charts the drugs crisis in Ireland, from the arrival of heroin into disadvantaged parts of Dublin in the late 70s, to the ecstasy scene from the late 80s on, to notorious gang bosses like John Gillian and Gerry ‘the Monk’ Hutch and the murder of journalist Veronica Guerin.

Dublin Narcos is a high-quality production and well-acted dramatization of real-life figures, accompanied by footage — some not seen widely before from the 1970s and 1980s.

In a question and answer session after the broadcast of the first episode in the Sugar Club in Dublin, Mr O’Sullivan was asked about the new Citizens’ Assembly on Drugs.

He said he often hears drug policy reformers talking about Ireland following “best practice” from aboard.

But he said that in his 45 years in law enforcement, he hasn’t come across any such system and said a criminal charge before the courts is a “wake-up call” for people caught in possession of illegal drugs.

He said the provision of a criminal sanction for drug possession worked in most cases as a “catalyst” for change. 

“Drug laws are stop-gap measures,” he said.

Fellow series participant, Ballymun activist Dean Scurry said alcohol was the “biggest killer” in Irish society and that a “mature conversation” was required on illegal drugs.

The first episode charts the rise of the notorious Dunne family in bringing heroin to Dublin.

In the programme, Mr O’Sullivan said Larry Dunne was an “Al Capone” figure who “pioneered heroin distribution” and that society is “still suffering the effect of that today”.

The series gives some airing to social and economic factors driving the country’s first heroin epidemic in the late 70s and early 80s which decimated disadvantaged communities. This gave rise to Concerned Parents groups, which emerged in the context of official neglect.

The series tries to humanises those who take drugs and the pleasure, and pain, they get from it.

Dublin Narcos is on Sky Documentaries from March 5.