'Children as young as six are being groomed by drug dealers'

Policing Authority says gangs are exploiting vulnerable kids in a practice that is now being dubbed a form of child trafficking

Troubled children in Ireland are sought out by dealers — who lure them with 'gifts' such as high-end trainers or cannabis or nitrous oxide — and exploit them to deliver drugs. Picture: iStock

Children as young as six are being used as “runners” for drug dealers, who “seek out” vulnerable kids and lure them in with 'gifts' such as top-end runners and 'free' drugs.

Communities in disadvantaged areas told the Policing Authority that the “seeming ease” with which money can be made at a very young age for simple tasks entices children into criminality.

One local group described it as “child trafficking”, in a bid to fully convey the extent of abuse and exploitation faced by these children.

People working with children in social and economically disadvantaged communities told the authority that children were accruing drug debts and being intimidated to pay for cannabis, where previously this would be for harder drugs like heroin and cocaine.

Some workers are also concerned at the rising aggressiveness of children given the higher potency of cannabis.

The Policing Authority — the statutory oversight body for An Garda Síochána — conducted research in communities across the country on a range of topics, including community safety; community policing; young people; drug intimidation and mental health.

The What We Heard 2022 report said communities spoke about how children were being lured into both dealing and taking drugs.

"In terms of the age at which children are being lured into acting as ‘runners’ for dealers, the Authority heard of children as young as six but more typically between eight to 12 years of age," the report stated. 

It said a common theme in discussions with communities was how dealers groomed children, adding: 

They seek out children they know to be in already vulnerable positions, befriending them with gifts of luxury, high end shoes and clothes and giving ‘freebies’ of nitrous oxide or cannabis.

Communities said these land the children in debt with them having to work off the debt for the dealer.

“In one area, it was stated that the seeming ease with which money can be made at a very young age for the simple task of transporting packages over short distances entices children into criminality,” the report said.

It added: “One group stated that they now use the terminology ‘child trafficking’ to describe what is happening within communities to convey the full extent of the abuse and exploitation faced by children.”

On the back of recommendations in successive national drug strategies, the Government published draft legislation in January 2021 that would criminalise adults for grooming children into crime. Two years later, the final Criminal Justice (Exploitation of Children in the Commission of Offences) Bill was published, which will now progress through the Oireachtas.

The report said community groups were also saying that children were accruing debts and being subjected to intimidation in relation to cannabis, something that was only previously seen with heroin and cocaine.

“They also stated that the potency of the of the cannabis that children now use means that it costs more and makes them behave more aggressively, creating a different culture around the drug than had been seen previously,” it said.