Anthony McIntyre attended a rally in Drogheda yesterday afternoon. 

There was a large turnout in Drogheda yesterday as inhabitants of the town took to the streets in support of ongoing efforts to disrupt and usurp the regime of fear local crime gangs seek to impose. An estimated five thousand marched through the town before assembling in West Street to listen to a number of speakers.

Although the drug dealers have been wreaking havoc on community harmony for a number of years, arson and murder being the tactics of choice, it was the savage slaying and dismemberment of 17 year old Keane Mulready-Woods a fortnight ago that brought matters to a head and stirred people into lancing the boil. The tender years of Mulready-Woods coupled with the savagery of his death, has horrified the town in a way that killing of older gang members rarely does. A friend rang to express the view that it was more Mexico than Ireland, echoing the sentiments of Mayor Paul Bell who described the killing of the teenager as "inhumane and demonic."

While there were proclamations of support at yesterday's rally from the speakers for An Garda Siochana they did come with a health warning: the Garda is seriously under-resourced and under-staffed for the task at hand. Not everybody is convinced that it is fit for purpose, although nobody is blaming the local guards on this. It is considered the inevitable outcome of austerity and government cutbacks implemented by the free marketeers of Fine Gael over the past decade, ably assisted for much of that by its obedient shill, the Labour Party.

The political parties were well represented, with the Taoiseach and leader of the opposition pushing to the front. Talking to a republican in the crowd, it was his view that the two main leaders had to turn up in case they, in their absence, were outmanoeuvred by the other. Not good tactics to stay away in an election campaign which has been infused with concerns about law and order.

The sound system packed in shortly into proceedings. The thought struck me that it symbolised the shoddiness of services on offer to the citizens of the town. Limited funding for the community groups and the state institutions whose task it is to halt the town's freefall into the abyss. Now we would not even be able to hear the range of woes.

I walked away rather than stand in a crowded street where nothing other than the grumbling of the people nearest to me could be heard. When I returned 10 minutes later proceedings had resumed but the crowd had decreased in size.

The notion raised by Mayor Paul Bell, which got much applause and a hum of approval from the crowd, that those who take drugs render themselves complicit with the drugs gangs, is fanciful. According to the mayor there is no such things as recreational drugs and people should be arrested for personal use possession. It is a bizarre recommendation, not one that bodes well for the future, failing to identify the source of the problem with a concomitant evasion of what needs done to tackle it. Use of drugs is as recreational as the use of alcohol. There is a demand for drugs which is being met by the gangs. Internationally, wars on drug are placatory not panacean. Their failure has fuelled numerous calls for drugs to be decriminalised. Drug use is a problem and it would be foolish to argue that drugs, like alcohol, do not ruin lives. However, usage is much less a problem than the drug gangs who currently provide the supply. A change of mindset to the problem of drug use, with an emphasis on a regime of health rather than a regime of fear, might be a long way off but then too is a cure.

As the crowd ebbed away, I sensed that the interest of the politicians not rooted in Drogheda would ebb just as quickly. Before leaving, no more sanguine than I had arrived, I shook hands with Senator Ged Nash and got hugged by a friend in Sinn Fein. On our feet, standing together with hands across the political divide, I feared the symbolism would not be matched by a solution.

Standing Together

Anthony McIntyre attended a rally in Drogheda yesterday afternoon. 

There was a large turnout in Drogheda yesterday as inhabitants of the town took to the streets in support of ongoing efforts to disrupt and usurp the regime of fear local crime gangs seek to impose. An estimated five thousand marched through the town before assembling in West Street to listen to a number of speakers.

Although the drug dealers have been wreaking havoc on community harmony for a number of years, arson and murder being the tactics of choice, it was the savage slaying and dismemberment of 17 year old Keane Mulready-Woods a fortnight ago that brought matters to a head and stirred people into lancing the boil. The tender years of Mulready-Woods coupled with the savagery of his death, has horrified the town in a way that killing of older gang members rarely does. A friend rang to express the view that it was more Mexico than Ireland, echoing the sentiments of Mayor Paul Bell who described the killing of the teenager as "inhumane and demonic."

While there were proclamations of support at yesterday's rally from the speakers for An Garda Siochana they did come with a health warning: the Garda is seriously under-resourced and under-staffed for the task at hand. Not everybody is convinced that it is fit for purpose, although nobody is blaming the local guards on this. It is considered the inevitable outcome of austerity and government cutbacks implemented by the free marketeers of Fine Gael over the past decade, ably assisted for much of that by its obedient shill, the Labour Party.

The political parties were well represented, with the Taoiseach and leader of the opposition pushing to the front. Talking to a republican in the crowd, it was his view that the two main leaders had to turn up in case they, in their absence, were outmanoeuvred by the other. Not good tactics to stay away in an election campaign which has been infused with concerns about law and order.

The sound system packed in shortly into proceedings. The thought struck me that it symbolised the shoddiness of services on offer to the citizens of the town. Limited funding for the community groups and the state institutions whose task it is to halt the town's freefall into the abyss. Now we would not even be able to hear the range of woes.

I walked away rather than stand in a crowded street where nothing other than the grumbling of the people nearest to me could be heard. When I returned 10 minutes later proceedings had resumed but the crowd had decreased in size.

The notion raised by Mayor Paul Bell, which got much applause and a hum of approval from the crowd, that those who take drugs render themselves complicit with the drugs gangs, is fanciful. According to the mayor there is no such things as recreational drugs and people should be arrested for personal use possession. It is a bizarre recommendation, not one that bodes well for the future, failing to identify the source of the problem with a concomitant evasion of what needs done to tackle it. Use of drugs is as recreational as the use of alcohol. There is a demand for drugs which is being met by the gangs. Internationally, wars on drug are placatory not panacean. Their failure has fuelled numerous calls for drugs to be decriminalised. Drug use is a problem and it would be foolish to argue that drugs, like alcohol, do not ruin lives. However, usage is much less a problem than the drug gangs who currently provide the supply. A change of mindset to the problem of drug use, with an emphasis on a regime of health rather than a regime of fear, might be a long way off but then too is a cure.

As the crowd ebbed away, I sensed that the interest of the politicians not rooted in Drogheda would ebb just as quickly. Before leaving, no more sanguine than I had arrived, I shook hands with Senator Ged Nash and got hugged by a friend in Sinn Fein. On our feet, standing together with hands across the political divide, I feared the symbolism would not be matched by a solution.

8 comments:

  1. What an awful end for a 17 year old. The people that did this should be executed.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Anthony,

    The so called drug war is bigger than little Leo and the Garda.

    Even if they had a better budget they'd lose:

    The Politics of Heroin: CIA Complicity in the Global Drug Trade
    by Alfred W. McCoy (Author) (with new chapters on US complicity in the Afghan drug trade)
    https://www.chicagoreviewpress.com/politics-of-heroin--the-products-9781556524837.php

    Whiteout: The CIA, Drugs and the Press.
    By Cockburn, Alexander; St Clair, Jeffrey (1999).
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CIA_involvement_in_Contra_cocaine_trafficking

    US Troops are Protecting Opium in Afghanistan. .
    This video provides pictures of US troops protecting Opium fields.
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qW2YWqVpT4E

    The Worst Narco-State in History?.
    After 13-Year War, Afghanistan’s Opium Trade Floods the Globe
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jk5hCLgnY7Y

    British Opium Wars 1839–1842 and 1856–1860
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opium_Wars

    ReplyDelete
  3. The war on drugs has failed. Time for harm minimisation/public health approach to addiction rather than criminilisation of approach.

    Capital punishment has no place in the justice system of any liberal democracy regardless of how horrific the crime is.

    ReplyDelete
  4. As with many other topics a revolutionary approach is possible which would change the landscape for good but for some reason it won't be considered and that is legalisation. Think about it just for one second. The gangs would loose control and the tax man would make fortunes which could be allocated to tackling addiction and providing safe supply. The criminal aspect severely damaged. I genuinely believe consumption would dip as its taboo element would be gone.

    ReplyDelete
  5. I see what you did there. Do you think the essence of your character, being an irritating prick, and your multiple urinary tract infections are related to each other? Could one be manifesting as the other, or are you sticking your peen in some ‘unsavoury’ places so to speak, and being an irritating prick is merely coincidental?

    ReplyDelete
  6. I’m not wholly convinced that legalising narcotics is the way forward or that it is the solution to the scourge of the drug gangs. Do we legalise all narcotics such as heroin and others of such an addictive nature? We couldn’t seriously be expected to supply all narcotics at the same level it is available today on the street? What would the point be in replacing the drug lord with an Exchequer lord? Would we not simply be continuing on the role only in a more benign robe?
    I not convinced either that making people aware through public programmes would be the answer either. The amount spent on public programmes of awareness on cigarette smoking hasn’t really dented people’s desire to smoke, especially young people. I do realise that the number of people smoking has greatly fallen but I believe that is down to other reasons in conjunction with health concerns such as lifestyle changes, economics and substitution choices available such as vaping. I know of one non-smoker who gave up because he added up the cost of his habit with the cost of his other favourite habit – alcohol consumption – and realised that he could afford a lot more drink if he gave up the smokes, which he did.
    And surely the monies earned by the Exchequer would not cover the cost to the State in lost revenue through the provision of welfare and social benefits, for those on addictive narcotics do not contribute anything to the State nor hold down jobs or have stable family lives….
    Alcohol is perfectly legal and accessible yet there is a huge and highly profitable black market (and with Brexit it stands to increase even more) in smuggled booze and cigarettes for that matter plus the cost to any welfare system from alcohol use and abuse is horrendous.
    Having spent time in Amsterdam when it was neither legal nor illegal but acceptable to smoke hash or dope or grass or whatever you want to call it, ‘Charlie’ or cocaine was still very much accessible and so was heroin….crime was also a big result of this blind eye approach. Cities like Amsterdam became the main route to smuggle drugs to Ireland and the UK and the rest of Europe.
    And if it is legalised, then would it not need to be legalised throughout the whole of the UK and Europe at the same time in order to deter those who were once on the demand side from becoming the new supplier?
    A much more comprehensive study needs to be undertaken before a decision is made. There are examples of the multitude of approaches taken by various groups and governments throughout the world in tackling drugs……these require investigation and a final determination to which suits our situation best rather than simply expecting the legalising of drugs to solve all our current drug related problems.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Unknown - the site does not carry comments from the moniker "Unknown".

    ReplyDelete
  8. What if any is the republican armed groups reaction to such mayhem given that it was standard for them to violently confront drug pushers? Perhaps they met their match south of the boarder unlike the DAAD campaign and others in the north in the not so distant past.

    ReplyDelete