SPEAKING in the European Parliament’s plenary debate on the rights and protection of victims of crime, Independent MEP from Clare, Michael McNamara, called for urgent action at national and European level to support victims of drug debt intimidation, a growing crisis he described as affecting young people across Ireland and, increasingly, across the EU.
MEP McNamara drew attention to the particular vulnerability of young people caught in cycles of drug debt, noting that victims are routinely threatened not to approach police and they comply because they do not believe they will receive protection.
He described this pattern as increasingly prevalent right across the Ireland South constituency, is no longer confined to cities and argued it cannot be unique to Ireland as drug use rises across the European Union.
Speaking in the Chamber, McNamara highlighted: “These are often young people who are afraid to seek help. They are told: don’t go to the gardaí. And they don’t, because they don’t believe they will receive protection. We need to find a way instil confidence in people that they will receive protection.”
The scale of the problem at home is stark. Ireland’s first national data report on drug-related intimidation, published this year by the Health Research Board, recorded over 1000 cases across every county of the State in 2024-2025.
Almost two-thirds of victims were living with family members and over one-third of those cases were actively experiencing intimidation at the time they sought help.
Drug-related debt was present in over two-thirds of cases, ranging from under €100 to more than €20,000. Nearly three in ten victims endured intimidation for more than a year, and in over a third of cases no support was offered to the individual despite their disclosure.
Responding to this report, McNamara stated, These figures should be a wake-up call for the Government.
Over a thousand cases recorded in a single year and that is only what has been disclosed. Behind every one of those cases is a family living in fear.
We need properly resourced support services, we need victims to believe they will be protected if they come forward, and we need a serious political commitment to tackling this at home as well as in Europe
MEP McNamara called on the European Commission and member states to treat victims of drug debt intimidation as the victims of crime they are, ensuring access to genuine protection and meaningful support.
He argued that as drug use increases across the EU, drug debt enforcement through intimidation and violence is a pan-European problem that demands a coordinated European response alongside robust action at national level
