Gardai deny Waterford is `soft touch' for drugs

Gardai in Waterford have denied claims by residents and a local councillor that the city is a "soft touch" for drugs barons and that illegal drugs are widely available in city housing estates.

Mr John Halligan, of the Workers' Party, claims drugs are being supplied to the city by major dealers from Cork and Dublin who know that gardai do not have the resources to tackle the problem.

Gardai claim Mr Halligan, a member of Waterford City Council, is engaged in publicity-seeking and that their drugs detection record is among the best in the State.

A report in last week's Waterford News & Star quoted residents in two housing estates as saying drugs were openly on sale from some houses and, although names and addresses had been supplied to gardai, nobody had been arrested.

Yesterday, residents of one of the estates cited, in the city centre, told The Irish Times they had not come across open sales of drugs in their area. Some of them expressed annoyance that the image of the estate might suffer through bad publicity. However, others questioned about the reports of drug-dealing said they did not want to discuss the matter.

Mr Halligan claims the problem exists in every estate in the city. "It has reached epidemic proportions. I am not exaggerating and I do not want to put fear into people but it would be ludicrous for anyone to suggest that we do not have a serious drugs problem."

He said residents in the two estates mentioned in the Waterford News & Star had been intimidated since the story appeared. "People have been told `we know it was you who gave the story and we'll deal with you when the time comes', that kind of thing. We've also had people sitting outside houses in cars and looking in people's windows. People are scared."

Mr Halligan claims local gardai, with a full-time drugs unit of five, cannot cope with the problem. This is strongly denied by Supt Michael McGarry, who said gardai were proactive and successful in dealing with the drugs issue.

There was no justification, he said, for a claim that girls as young as 14 were buying drugs in the city. "That's not happening. We have never received reports of anything like that."

Last year 42 people had been prosecuted for supplying drugs in Waterford city, 157 had been charged with possession and 26 had been dealt with through the juvenile diversion scheme.

While the full-time drugs unit comprised a detective sergeant and four gardai, other officers were also involved in anti-drugs policing. Plain-clothes officers were frequently brought in from other areas to work in the city.

Last year gardai had invited every member of the Licensed Vintners' Association from Waterford to a meeting in the Tower Hotel for a briefing on how to deal with the drugs problem. Members of the Garda national drugs unit came from Dublin to advise them on what to look out for and how to respond.

Supt McGarry said that, as a result of the claims made in last week's newspaper story, a garda had called to every house in the Military Barracks estate and no resident had made a complaint.

Mr Halligan, he said, had never approached the gardai about the concerns he was raising in public. He also questioned why attention always focused on the Garda and not the many other agencies also involved in dealing with the drugs issue.

When gardai were involved it meant that something had already broken down in society. "I'm very confident that gardai in Waterford are doing a magnificent job on this issue."

Mr Halligan said it was no surprise that people did not make a complaint to the garda who had called to their homes after the newspaper story appeared. They were simply afraid of the "ruthless criminals" who were dealing in drugs in their areas.

Supt McGarry said he did not accept the intimidation argument. Complaints to the Garda were dealt with in the strictest confidence and people could telephone the Garda confidential line at 1800 666111 or Crimebusters at 1800 250025.

Labour councillor Mr Pat Hayes, the deputy mayor of Waterford, said there was no doubt that illegal drugs such as cannabis and ecstasy were on sale throughout the city and some people felt intimidated. Waterford's problem, however, was no more or no less than that of other urban centres in the region. "Waterford is still a good city to live in and a safe city to live in," he said.