‘Put more Garda resources’ into tackling Limerick drug dealing

Activists welcome the sentencing of a cocaine dealer who operated from a family grocery store in Limerick but call for an increased Garda presence and improved social services

TD Maurice Quinlivan: Drug dealing in St Mary’s Park, Limerick, still operates 'like a 24-hour drive through'.  Picture: Liam Burke/Press 22

Limerick activists have welcomed the sentencing last week of a cocaine dealer who operated from a family grocery store in a city estate, but want more Garda resources and better social services.

They expressed growing concerns at the spread of crack cocaine and the emergence this month of the highly dangerous synthetic opioid, nitazene, in street sedative tablets, which resulted in a number of overdoses in the Mid-West.

Sinn Féin TD Maurice Quinlivan said the sentencing of Declan Sheehy earlier this week, who was caught red-handed when the Limerick Divisional Drug Unit raided a grocery store in the King’s Island/St Mary’s Park area in November 2022, was “very welcome”.

Sheehy was caught with around 3kg of cocaine and €58,000 in cash.

Mr Quinlivan and others have been highlighting the severity of open drug dealing in St Mary’s Park for a number of years.

Gardaí set up a dedicated operation, codenamed Copóg, in January 2021 to target dealing in the area.

“This case [Sheehy] is just the tip of the iceberg,” said Mr Quinlivan, who added that drug dealing in St Mary’s still operates “like a 24-hour drive through”.

He said Operation Copóg has resulted in 400 drug searches of people and 35 searches of properties and that 61 people have been found in possession of drugs either for sale or for personal use.

Five people have been arrested in relation to significant drug seizures and three people for drug-related money laundering.

Mr Quinlivan said crack cocaine is causing a “real problem” in the city centre and nearby urban estates.

Residents 'abandoned' 

He said people living in St Mary’s feel “frustrated” at what they see as a lack of response from gardaí and feel abandoned by both An Garda Síochána and the local authority.

“Gardaí have done a great job, when they are resourced,” said Mr Quinlivan, but added there needs to be “an increased Garda presence”. He said this must be combined with a “sensitive and health-based approach” to crack cocaine users.

Mid West Regional Drugs Task Force chairman Mick Lacey said the Sheehy conviction is a “good reflection” of the work of gardaí.

He said gardaí “do their best, but need more resources”.

He said the task force is very concerned about the use of crack cocaine among vulnerable drug users and that they now have the added worry around nitazenes, after the HSE issued an alert earlier this month.

The former social worker said the drugs trade “thrives on social inequality” and is like “an enterprise” in deprived areas. 

He said a “big issue” is the grooming and entanglement of children, who can be used to collect debts and deliver threats.

Mr Lacey said communities were “fragmented” during the covid pandemic, when gardaí were often the only service on the ground. He said this was not just a Garda problem and said the mental health service was in a “terrible state”, reflecting, he said, conditions at University Hospital Limerick.

“Things are not great on the ground,” said Mr Lacey.