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THE PRESIDENT OF the Association of Garda Superintendents has expressed concern about the ‘normalisation’ of drug misuse and said officials need to be careful about the language they use when talking about the issue.
Speaking at his association’s annual conference, Noel Cunningham told Minister of State David Stanton that the use “by groups, including official sources of the term ‘recreational drugs’ is only helping to normalise what is illegal, dangerous and supporting drug abuse in Ireland”.
“We must be careful with our language and supportive of a multi-agency approach to addressing drug abuse within our young and not-so-young communities.”
Garda Commissioner Drew Harris said he agreed the use of this term was “not appropriate”.
“If you look at drugs, drugs feed then into crime gangs and that feeds into turf wars and then that becomes murder and serious violence and all these things are a continuum and that continuum leads to other forms of criminality, be it human trafficking, be it illegal and indeed child abuse online,” he said.
There is all sorts of problems about being any sort of customer of the drugs trade. You are feeding an illegal trade and you only have to look across the water to see the misery there is in other parts of the world, in Central America, for instance, in the drugs trade. Bear in mind your euro, your euros that you’ve spent on drugs is feeding that crime.
Organised crime
In his address to the conference, junior minister Stanton spoke about the organised crime activity in the Louth and west Dublin divisions.
“In saying that these criminals are a tiny minority in these areas, I do not discount the concerns of the members of the public whose lives are impacted by their activities,” he said.
He said dedicated policing operations have been put in place to specifically target ongoing criminality in these areas.
Armed support units, whose members are highly trained and equipped with a variety of non-lethal and lethal weapons, are supporting their uniformed colleagues by carrying out high visibility armed checkpoints and patrols throughout the region.
The Minister of State for Equality, Immigration and Integration said this crime will not be allowed to continue, and “those engaged in these illegal activities will be brought to justice”.
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Didn’t think we had woodpeckers in ireland
@liam mc meel: shoot
@Philip Murphy: shoot them or se
@liam mc meel: I’ve been listening to them chipping away at the trees for a good few years now. Sounds like a machine gun being shot in the distance
@michael odwyer: Indeed! They can heard rattling away at the metal tops of telegraph poles along the banks of Lough Erne. Some noise to experience!
@liam mc meel: they are pecking up their passports on the way over.
@liam mc meel: only in last 20 years. They flew in from Wales.
@liam mc meel: It’s amazing, I’ve never seen one here. I was going to say they’re very striking :-D
Ha ha ha HA ha, Ha ha ha HA ha, heh-heh-heh-heh-heh-heh-heh!
Can’t comment on Finland taking action on illegal immigration. Why?
@paulinlavally@gmail.com: because the government told them not to let you
How about the so called professionals ESB put the electrical infrastructure underground? No let’s blame the woodpecker. And the top brass are earning €100,000s.
@robbie scanlon: How much do you think it would cost to put all the cables underground, billions? Are you willing to pay this extra on your bill? We allow one off developments and this is some of the cost associated with it.
@The next small thing: The cost, the cost, oh what about the cost.
These people are making hundreds of millions per year, let them upgrade their own infrastructure or get out of the game and let someone in that will think of everyone, including our animals.
You wanna punish the animal for getting in the way of capitalism!
@David: Bless your naivety if you think the end customer won’t pay the cost. I never mentioned animals in my comment so I don’t know why you brought that up however seeing as you have then surely you are against one off developments which destroys their habitat.
@robbie scanlon: why not blame the Donald
These woodpeckers are live wires with no forwarding address or postal code for billing purposes
@Jerry Collins: brilliant!!
They’re Welsh, not Poles. [Insert rant of choice about migrants]
Still not as irritating as the noise Mary Toilet makes when she opens her gob
@Peter Murray: and now your having a conversation with yourself
@Peter Murray: jeez Man are you ok??
Are those woodpeckers migrants from Wales.Shouldnt they be in direct provision and be made to apply for asylum
Wood (oops Would) treating telegraph poles with tar deter woodpeckers from damaging them?
@Garreth Byrne:
Not much fun if you are the worker that has to climb that pole after….
@Garreth Byrne: Or maybe change the material of the pole and stop punishing the wood pecker for being a wood pecker?
Nial “Hatch”…….. born for the job:)
@Edward Hughes: Ya gotta wonder if the name provoked his interest.
Amazing to have so many of them they run out of trees. We need more native trees and less conifer plantations…
Everyone says I’m paranoid for starting these Morse code lessons ,but I’m positive those woodpeckers are talking sh,t .
Seriously though, why have shops stopped stocking strawberries? Usually imported from Spain this time of year.
@Fintan Stack: oh Maaann!! Good point even though it’s such a First World problem… I used to grow my own I’d defo recommend it x
@Fintan Stack: parsnips from Spain too
Pesky woodpeckers, coming over here, taking our poles, messing with our trees! Round them all up and send them back! ;- )
@Mick Hanna: lol love it!!
These woodpeckers are live wires
Are these immigrant woodpeckers ?
Woodpeckers will not eat timber treated with creosote
Would these nests effect the overall structure safety and useable of these poles. I wouldn’t think so why not leave be.
Is this English?
Would these nests effect the overall structure safety and useable of these poles. I wouldn’t think so why not leave be.
@J M: “affect”. Apparently they do, since they are causing power outages.
Would these nests effect the overall structure safety and useable of these poles. I wouldn’t think so why not leave be.
Is this meant to be English?
Would they not set up the old poles they had to replace, so the birds can still nest in them? Or add new ones nearby that are shielded & leave the inhabited ones in place?
have your say