FIANNA Fáil has promised to introduce a road safety-style ad campaign to raise awareness of the dangers of illegal drug use if in government after the next election. 

The party wants to rollout a national educational awareness campaign; introduce new laws to stop children distributing, delivering or dealing drugs; and increase funding for local drug task-forces within 100 days of taking office if it wins the general election next year.

Launching a Dáil motion calling on the Government to invest more in the local drugs and alcohol task-forces, Fianna Fáil’s drugs spokesman John Curran said they had been “starved of funding for many years”.

Speaking on Tuesday at Leinster House, Mr Curran said: “The problem is at a level that I have never seen it before. It is catastrophic. It is catastrophic to the individuals, their community, their families, and the communities and it’s time that we take a change in approach.”

He said that over the last number of years there has been a very significant increase in the abuse of illicit drugs in Ireland.

The motion comes after nine former drugs ministers last week endorsed a letter expressing concern at the lack of engagement by the Government with local communities. Mr Curran said that the national drug strategy was “probably fine, but the implementation of it is not working”.

Mr Curran said one of the big concerns was highlighted in Blanchardstown in west Dublin recently, where the local task-force reported finding children as young as eight being organised to deliver and sell drugs.

“We need to introduce legislation to protect those children, that they’re not exploited, to protect them from people buying drugs from them and to protect them from being organised to deliver and supply drugs,” he said.

The Government has already committed to examining the possibility of introducing a specific offence of grooming children through inducements, including providing them with drugs, for the commission of drug-related crime.

Fianna Fáil justice spokesman Jim O’Callaghan said the use of cocaine was on the rise and said people need to be educated about the links between drug use and long-term mental health issues.

Mr O’Callaghan said: “We’re very good in this country at running campaigns. For instance, we ran very effective campaigns on behalf of road safety, the dangers of speeding, the dangers of drink driving. I think we need campaigns as well to warn people of the long-term dangers to taking drugs.”

Mr Curran said there needs to be a “multi-annual national educational awareness campaign” to change behaviours and attitudes. “We’ve done it with road safety,” he said.

The party’s Seanad leader Catherine Ardagh said that in Dublin 12 there has been a “serious rise in crack cocaine use”.

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