Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions
Dail Éireann — 2026-04-30
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Simon Harris (FG), Wicklow

First, I fully appreciate the Deputy is making a point that is broader than Ballymun. I just wanted to acknowledge the trauma in Ballymun and point out there is a structure there that Government should harness to try to support the community at this time of particular acute challenge.
We have taken a number of initiatives to try to tackle deprivation in the country. I can think of one as recently as last month, with the rollout of DEIS plus, targeting schools in our communities that are not just the most disadvantaged but the most disadvantaged within those most disadvantaged. The Deputy is right on the broader point of something going on in society. It is not just in a certain small number of communities. Drug use is now widespread. I hope we can join across the political divide in making that point but there needs to be an understanding in society, in everyone's home, in every community, pub and social setting in Ireland that the taking of illegal drugs in your community is not a victimless crime. Somewhere along that chain, before you snorted that line of coke or took that pill, there was potentially a child being brought into a life of crime. We cannot avoid or sugar-coat that anymore by just thinking this is an issue confined to certain communities.
Nearly all communities are now complicit in this harm and we need to have a much less tolerant approach to the casual taking of drugs.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-04-30/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-27T06:54:49+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-04-30