*Photograph: John Mangan
A FORMER Mayor of Clare has urged Gardaí to tackle the small-time drug dealers.
Gardaí based at Shannon Garda Station are to put a strong focus on the clampdown of sale and supply of drugs in the area over the next six months, Sergeant Seamus Mulligan told a briefing with the Shannon Municipal District on Tuesday.
Speaking at the meeting, Cllr Michael Begley (IND) urged the Gardaí to ensure that more efforts are placed on arresting small suppliers. The Clonlara representative said that it is well known within every village and town who local drug dealers are and that more could be done to catch this and wipe out some of the illegal drug trade. Begley said dealers were active in every community.
Cllr Tony Mulcahy (FG) noted that there is an increasing amount of young “pups” engaging in anti-social behaviour. He said their behaviour has been “quite uppity”. He cited an instance of a 24 year old male driving a car at a man and his child while he claimed a non-national woman “it doesn’t matter where she is from” had a rape threat made against her while walking in the vicinity of Tullyvarraga Hall.
According to Cllr Mulcahy, the woman was not impressed with the follow-up with Gardaí when the matter was brought to their attention. She was told the Council should have put cameras in the area. “We can’t be blaming each other,” he added.
At the briefing, Sergeant Mulligan encouraged the public to continue to make statements to Gardaí to assist them in doing their job and investigating instances of crime.
He said the demand from the public for drugs is keeping dealers in business and that the issue was widespread across society.
