'Whole country awash' with cocaine, judge says, as five admit possession in Kerry court

Drug-driving is also increasing in county, Killarney District Court heard

Cocaine is 'the party drug' in Killarney, court told.

Cocaine is currently the drug of choice and is now "more prevalent than cannabis", a judge remarked after several cases for possession of cocaine had come before him at Killarney District Court.

Five men pleaded guilty to having possession of cocaine in Killarney town and a sixth was put back for hearing. It was double the number of cases involving cannabis.

A number of other cases were adjourned for discovery and most of these too involved cocaine possession.

Judge David Waters said there was a time when the drug was not around but cocaine appeared to be the drug of choice now.

"The whole country seems awash with it," Judge Waters added.

The solicitor representing the men before the court, Padraig O’Connell, agreed and said it was "the party drug" in Killarney.

Drug-driving is also increasing and cocaine is now also prominent in drug-driving detections, the court heard

Judge Waters said many people who come before his court do not realise how long the drug can remain in their system, meaning they can fail roadside drug tests and lose their licence for up to a year.

The values of the cocaine in the cases of possession, for personal use, before Killarney District Court this week varied from €10 to €100 in value.

The men, aged between 25 and 38, had addresses in Mallow and Midleton in Co Cork, Killarney and Tralee in Co Kerry, and Co Mayo.

Four had no previous convictions and will be given the benefit of the probation act providing they present receipts for donations of €300 to the court-nominated Cuan Mhuire and The Grove rehabilitation centres by May 2.

The other cocaine-related cases which came before the court have been adjourned for discovery of documents, and/or finalisation on a plea of guilty.

Afterwards, Mr O’Connell, one of the region’s leading criminal solicitors, said cocaine was being used as a recreational drug predominantly among young professional men, and they would not have previously come to attention.

Drug driving

Meanwhile, there has been a steady increase in drug-driving detections in Kerry. Garda statistics for the first three months of the year at the Kerry Joint Policing Committee revealed 37 arrests for drink-driving and 19 arrests for drug driving.

In December, the previous JPC was told about one-third of those detected intoxicated while driving were drug-related.

Illegal drugs are now in “every, nook, cranny, parish and village” in Kerry, the December meeting of the county’s Joint Policing Committee heard. There were calls for a joint operation between schools and gardaí to tackle the problem.

In some cases, “huge” drug debts were being shouldered by parents of young people in the county, the committee heard.