President Mary McAleese's warning that people should stop buying drugs if narcotics gangs are to be driven out of business has been supported by the Catholic Archbishop of Dublin, Dr Diarmuid Martin.
Speaking at the Dublin North Inner City Community Policing Forum in Bettystown, Co Meath, on Saturday, Dr Martin said: "I fully endorse the comments yesterday [ Friday] evening of President McAleese on the fact that the supply chain for drugs will only be interrupted when the demand chain is stopped."
He told the audience: "Drugs may seem recreational in some parts of the city, but you know the other side of drug consumption, coming out of the lack of investment in social infrastructures of the poorer parts of the city. Where there is no investment in providing opportunity and community, then a destructive drug culture can easily flourish and the children of the poor become prey."
Speaking on Friday night's Late Late Show on RTÉ, Mrs McAleese said it was "a simple equation - sellers don't have a market unless they have buyers and people who buy drugs are responsible for the sellers on the street".
According to Dr Martin, drug abuse "flourishes where people do not have the ability to live a dignified life for themselves and for their families".
"I am not disparaging people living in poverty. I grew up in a deprived area of Dublin," he added. "My neighbours were all extraordinary parents who made enormous sacrifices for the good of their children. They deserved better support for their efforts . . . Unfortunately, parents are not organised into an effective constituency. They need our advocacy."
Violence and the drug trade "belong intrinsically together. Illicit drug consumption cannot be sanitised out of that equation."
Dr Martin said it was "difficult to understand how, in a society which rightly abhors any expression of double standards in public life, there are those who attempt to make germ-free the bond between the sordid network of drug trafficking and violence and the socially accepted use of certain drugs as 'recreational'."
Tony Gregory TD said the community policing forum - involving the community, local authority and the Garda - was the "right formula" for addressing drug-related issues. However, he said, "if we don't focus it on areas of most difficulty and apply whatever measures [ are necessary], and get results, we are probably wasting our time."