Tánaiste 'very worried' killer fentanyl drug will be imported into Ireland

Mr Martin said fentanyl has had a devastating impact on the United States in recent years and there are fears about it becoming more commonly sold in other countries too. Picture: Kirsty O'Connor/PA Wire

Tánaiste Micheál Martin has said he is “very worried” about the threat fentanyl poses to Ireland, with concerns rising that the killer drug could be imported into the country soon.

Speaking to the Irish Examiner in Bogotá, Colombia, Mr Martin said fentanyl has had a devastating impact on the United States in recent years and there are fears about it becoming more commonly sold in other countries too. 

“I’m very worried about it, particularly from talking to people here (Colombia) and in Mexico in particular,” Mr Martin said.

“I mean, the negative impact it has had on the US has been quite profound, shocking at scale.

“That phrase people keep saying to me, ‘It’s inevitable, this will arrive in Ireland’. I welcome the outcome of the Citizens’ Assembly [on Drug Use] towards a more health-based approach to the drugs issue in general, but I think we have to be strong in dealing with drug traffickers and strong in our interventions on opiates and so on.”

Fentanyl is a potent synthetic opioid that is up to 40 times more powerful than heroin and has contributed to an 'opioid epidemic' in the US.

In 2021, more than 100,000 people in America suffered drug-related deaths, the majority attributed to fentanyl.

Mr Martin said discussions have been taking place between the US and China to try to get to grips with the spread of fentanyl, due to China's role in producing the synthetic drug.

“I noticed it [fentanyl] featured strongly in the meetings between president Biden and president Xi… I think there were agreements reached to try and curtail the export of fentanyl and the raw materials that give rise to it.”

Asked if the Government would be in a position to act on the recommendations from the Citizens’ Assembly on Drug Use before its term is due to end next March, the Tánaiste said this should happen.

“I think we should be in a position to act on some of it,” he said.

“Already, there is a strong health-based approach to drugs and there has been for quite some time going way back to methadone.

“I shared this with the minister of defence in Colombia, the idea that we shouldn’t have criminalisation of personal consumption, but rather we should focus on addiction and those kinds of interventions and resourcing them more effectively.”

In October, the Citizens’ Assembly on Drugs recommended a “comprehensive health-led” approach to dealing with drug possession for personal use, which could include some form of decriminalisation.

The vote itself was extremely tight for cannabis, split between a comprehensive health-led approach and outright legalisation, with it only being lost by one vote (39 members to 38 members).

In recent months, there has been a spate of HSE warnings about Nitazine-type substances – synthetic opioids – that have been linked to multiple non-fatal overdoses in Cork City and Dublin.

Nitazine was first sold more than 60 years ago as a morphine alternative but was never approved on the medical market, and has previously been identified as a light brown powder.