Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)

I assure the Deputy of my commitment and that of the Garda to dealing with all forms of drug dealing, be it individuals in the estates he mentioned or the larger organised crime groups. Of course, to deal with this on a national level, the Garda needs to make sure it does what it can, working with international partners. It also needs the resources to try and stop these loads coming into the country.

This is reflected in the unprecedented of €2.35 billion provided to the Garda, an increase of about 23% in the past three years. This allows additional assigned resources to be allocated to An Garda Síochána in the specialised units involved in tackling drug dealing and overall organised crime groups. We have the Garda National Drugs and Organised Crime Bureau, the Garda National Bureau of Criminal Investigation, the armed support unit and the Criminal Assets Bureau, CAB. As I mentioned earlier, the bureau has done fantastic work since its inception. The number of assets it has seized and the money it has seized over the years have continued to increase. The changes that I propose to make will ensure that it can access those assets quicker but also that criminals cannot frustrate its work and prevent that from happening.

I am also undertaking a significant number of actions to make sure that we have the gardaí we need to be able to respond to all types of crime, including this issue. I am increasing the retirement age of Garda members from 60 to 62. People can now join at 50 whereas before it was 35. We have increased the training allowance to support those coming into the college. We are also investing in tools, technology and equipment. Every year the Garda now has a budget of approximately €100 million to invest in the technology, vehicles and equipment it needs. A new helicopter will also be bought to make sure it can undertake all of this work, working closely with Interpol and Europol to tackle drug trafficking on a more localised. When I come back in, I might have time to outline some of the work that has been done in the communities to try to prevent younger people, in particular, from getting dragged into this.

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