Dublin councillors seek meeting with Garda commissioner over drug-dealing in north inner city

The house in Waterford where Philip and Kim English and two of their sons died in an arson attack.

Councillors on Dublin City Council's central area committee are seeking a public meeting with Garda commissioner Justin Kelly amid growing concerns over drug-dealing and intimidation in parts of the north inner city.

The calls came during two recent meetings of the committee, where elected representatives raised concerns following a number of deaths linked to drug intimidation across the country.

Four members of the same family died earlier this month in an incident that has been linked to drug intimidation, including Philip English, his wife Kim, and their sons Callum, 12, and Jayden, nine, in Waterford.  

In response to the escalating situation in Dublin's north inner city, committee chair John Stephens, a Fianna Fáil councillor, agreed to issue a formal invitation requesting the Garda commissioner attend a public meeting of the committee.

During the meetings, councillors described widespread concern among residents about open drug-dealing and intimidation in some communities.

Independent councillor Malachy Steenson said increasingly young children were being drawn into the drugs trade.

"We're now watching 10-year-olds delivering drugs," he told the committee.

"That is not a normal society. We're now watching young teenagers in Ballybough firing shots to push away those who are challenging them for their dealing," he claimed.

Mr Steenson said people were feeling increasingly abandoned by the State, adding his own daughter has been battling addiction.

"I'm dealing with addiction in my family for over 30 years and every time I see a tent and some girl's legs sticking out of it, I have to go and check and see if that's my daughter," he said.

“I'm not gonna take lectures from people in this house about the drugs crisis in this country. We are dealing with it on the street."

Mr Steenson told the Irish Examiner: “I’ve lost four brothers-in-laws and a sister-in-law to drugs. I have been talking about this for 30 years — the only thing that changed is the sellers are younger and more vicious."

He also claimed residents in parts of the north inner city were reluctant to challenge drug activity because of fears of intimidation.

Paul 'Bosco' O'Connor, who was shot and killed in Mallow, Co Cork.

Independent councillor Nial Ring said the north inner city remained "blighted with drugs".

"You only have to look on the streets," he said.

Fellow Independent Christy Burke said open drug-dealing was taking place "from morning to night" and argued little had changed in decades.

Sinn Féin councillor Seamus McGrattan said serious issues had been raised during the debate and councillors were entitled to seek answers from senior gardaí.

"There's some serious questions that Cllr Steenson is raising there, and I believe that as elected reps for local central, we're entitled to ask those questions and get a response from senior gardaí," he said.

The former chief executive of business representation group Dublin Town, Richard Guiney, said Dublin's drug problems had persisted for decades and remained one of the biggest challenges facing the city centre.

Mr Guiney, who is a member of the Drug and Alcohol Task Force, said the concentration of addiction, homelessness and support services within a relatively compact area of the inner city had contributed to the development of a significant drugs market.

"It is understandable, there are a lot of services in the core city centre," he said.

"We are housing close to 3,000 people who are vulnerable and providing housing.

"If we had that amount of people who loved buying shoes, it goes without saying there would be plenty of shoe shops around.

It is the same with drugs. We are providing housing in emergency accommodation in that very concentrated area, which has developed a drug market.

While acknowledging work carried out by agencies tackling addiction and crime, he said the issue continued to affect perceptions of the city centre.

"This is the number one issue why people don't feel comfortable coming into the city," he said.

“There has been some great work done but we all know this is a real challenge and no one is really addressing it.” 

Cocaine use

The latest figures from the Health Research Board (HRB) estimate between 72,000 and 100,000 people use cocaine annually in Ireland, including powder cocaine and crack cocaine.

Cocaine now accounts for 42% of all cases entering drug treatment services, making it the country's most common problem drug.

“It is the middle class that is buying drugs from working-class young fellas and those who want to legalise have no problem with people using it recreationally," said Mr Steenson.

JP O'Sullivan, a director of anti-child trafficking organisation MECPATHS, said vulnerable young people were being targeted by criminal networks with promises of money and expensive goods in exchange for becoming involved in drug dealing.

He identified Diamond Park on Seán McDermott Street as an area of concern in efforts to prevent children being drawn into criminal activity.

Mr O'Sullivan said the organisation had raised its concerns with both the Department of Justice and An Garda Síochána.

He warned certain locations in cities and towns were being used to recruit vulnerable young people into criminal activity through false promises of financial reward.

"This is known, but no one will come out and say it," he said.

One mother from the north inner city told the Irish Examiner her family had been living under the shadow of drug debt for years.

She said her son had "not come out of the house for nearly four years because he owes money".

"He's in the back room and I've had to go and meet the dealers and pay them off. That is what lots of mothers do," she said.

"You have them on your back and on the phone all the time and you're threatened with real life murder...

I would never ring the gardaí or anyone. We will die for sure then.

"I just borrowed [the money] from the credit union and my family and I'm still paying it off. It will cost me the same to bury my child. At least I'll be in debt with my son alive."

Gardaí were contacted for comment on the various claims made by councillors in Dublin's north inner city.

Drug prevention education

Last month, a major study revealed it was unknown whether, or to what extent, drug prevention education was being taught in schools.

The HRB research said there was no data available on the extent to which the Social Personal Health Education (SPHE) programme, which includes drug prevention, is “actually delivered” in schools.

The study said Ireland had the partial foundations of an effective prevention system in society generally, but current efforts were fragmented and insufficiently co-ordinated.

The Review on Prevention Systems in Ireland examined 220 drug prevention projects in the country and compared them to international standards set down by the UN and World Health Organization.

The study said while prevention was covered in the National Drugs Strategy 2017-2025, assessments to date suggest that, in practice, it has not been regularly monitored, reviewed, or adjusted.

It noted the Prevention Strategic Implementation Group, set up in 2023 after a mid-term review of the drugs strategy, found prevention was “widely viewed as under-resourced and lacking strategic focus”.

The HRB report said: “As SPHE is not an examined part of the curriculum, there are no data available on the extent to which it is actually delivered in schools or whether all topics [including substance use] are covered."

The report concluded: “Currently, it is unknown whether prevention is typically included in school curricula or, when it is, whether it includes a sufficient number of sessions to be truly effective.”

Separately last month, the Department of Health said it would be allocating €50,000 to the HRB to expand data collection on drug-related intimidation from more family support services, including family resource centres.

The Drug Related Intimidation and Violence Engagement (Drive) project published its first data report last May, which showed more than 40 children were known to have been subject to drug-related initimidation in the last two years — and 13 of them were still in school.

The report, published with the HRB, recorded a total of more than 1,000 cases in 2024 and 2025, with cases in every county.