Casual drug users encourage violence - primate

Recreational drug users were sharply criticised yesterday by Archbishop of Dublin Dr Diarmuid Martin. He said that the drug trade was, in its own right, violence, a trafficking in death and the ruination of lives, many of them young and vulnerable.

"Violence and the drug trade belong intrinsically together. Illicit drug consumption cannot be sanitised out of that equation.

"I find it particularly 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'."

He said that double standard about the drug trade could never be made politically correct. "It is certainly not socially correct. It is not correct for society."

Dr Martin said that many old people living on their own told him that they lived in fear.

"I have, on many occasions, drawn attention to the unacceptable increase in violence that has become a frightening mark of Irish society and Dublin."

Dr Martin was giving the homily at the 68th annual citizenship service in Christ Church Cathedral Dublin, becoming the first Catholic archbishop of the Dublin archdiocese to do so.

Amongst the congregation were: Lord Mayor of Dublin Paddy Bourke; Minister of State for Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs Pat Carey and Labour leader Eamon Gilmore.

Dr Martin thanked God "for the particular grace that is represented this afternoon by the invitation of Archbishop John Neil, and of Dean Desmond Harmon, to me as Roman Catholic Archbishop of Dublin."

He recalled that his mother and her family, who grew up in the Liberties in different times, would certainly be surprised to see him at the pulpit, but he knew that they would be proud that everybody was there together.

Dr Martin said that the desire to be of service, to care for others, to create a better and more just society, would never be extinguished in the hearts of humans.

"It would be naive, however, not to acknowledge that the ethos of self-giving, volunteerism and good neighbourliness, which contributes so much to the well-being of Irish society, would be seriously threatened if our growing preoccupation with wealth and consumerism were to lead people to a more calculating concern just for their own individual interests.

"Let me be clear, I am not among the merchants of gloom who feel that a little bit of economic downturn might be good for the Irish soul. It is important that we recognise and, indeed, celebrate the great advances that have taken place in Ireland.

"Economic progress has brought the temptations of affluence, but it has also reduced the extent of the harsh poverty and the limited opportunity which characterised Ireland for so long.

"For that, we all thank God. But the temptations of affluence and consumerism are there."

Dr Martin said that respecting human dignity meant being attentive to the needs of those whose dignity was easily overlooked.