A local authority in Donegal will tonight decide whether to exclude from its housing waiting list anybody convicted of a drugs offence in an effort to address what councillors see as a growing drug problem. The motion will come before Letterkenny Urban District Council at its monthly meeting and is in response to the number of recent drug finds in the north-west.
More than 1,000 ecstasy tablets were seized in a house in Letterkenny last weekend, and last month £500,000 worth of cannabis and ecstasy tablets were found in Tubbercurry, Co Sligo, in a seizure last month.
An Independent councillor, Mr P.J. Blake, has proposed the motion which would require amending clauses in the UDC's letting agreements under Section 14 of the Housing Miscellaneous Provisions Act. If passed, the provision would also apply to those convicted of violent, threatening or anti-social behaviour.
Mr Blake said he believed Dublin Corporation was the only local authority in the State to have used this power under the legislation.
"If this is passed, I will be asking that the motion be circulated to all the other local authorities in the country," he said.
He said he believed the measure was necessary because the drug problem was growing throughout Donegal.
He has also campaigned for a special Garda drug unit to be set up in the county, similar to one in Sligo.
Mr Blake said councillors had supported his call for such a unit, and he believed they would also support tonight's motion. "At least if this rule is there it has to be a deterrent, because our courts certainly aren't," he added.