Drug cases a new low for Fianna Fáil spokesman for justice Collins

Fianna Fáil are struggling to transition into the 21st century. The parish pump politics — of a wink, a nod, and an envelope — they have employed since the beginning of the State is still bubbling to the surface, despite the clean-cut new faces.

Surely to God, you would imagine that their spokesman for justice, Niall Collins, would know that he was wrongly interfering in the due process of the law by pressurising a judge to go easy on a convicted drug dealer?

Drug dealers are ruining the lives of teenagers in villages, towns and cities throughout Ireland.

Fair enough if Collins had been pleading on behalf of a student who was out celebrating his (her) Leaving Certificate, and through naivete had got on the wrong side of the law, but this is not the case, and far from it.

But this was a direct intervention in the administration of the law, and cannot, nor should not, be brushed under the carpet. It’s hard to teach an old dog new tricks, but it’s easy for the young pup (Niall Collins) to learn bad tricks from an old dog like Eamon Ó Cuív.

I have to question whether Fianna Fáil are for a drugs culture, or are they against it?

Eamon Ó Cuív’s attempt to redirect the law on behalf of a drug dealer who killed an associate and stored his body in a freezer is equally misjudged. A number of years ago a Fianna Fáil councillor was photographed allegedly snorting cocaine at a house party, so it won’t come as a surprise if a few Fianna Fáilers are spotted wandering around the Dáil with buckets of water, making sure their plant cultivation pots don’t dry up.

It's no wonder that MEP Brian Crowley has gone awry and joined a Tory-led conservative grouping that contains members who are allegedly racist, homophobic and xenophobic, but no mention of “drug dealers” among them.

Martin is very forgiving of discrepancies among his party members, and has appeared very reluctant to wield his authority in any shape or form, as leader of the party.

Has it got so bad that he has to rely on every gombeen voter in rural Ireland, and every drug dealer vote in the towns and cities, to keep his posterior perched on the fence?

J Woods

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