Drugs being sold openly on estates claim

Date Published: 24-Apr-2009

GALWAY City is in danger of becoming a fertile stomping ground for gangland criminals involved in the drugs trade and could soon even surpass Limerick City for drugs-related criminality and gangland turf wars, a former Mayor has warned.

City Councillor Brian Walsh says cocaine, heroin and cannabis are being openly sold in city estates throughout the city and the problem is now “growing out of control”. Dealers in estates are even giving young teenagers free drugs initially in order to get them hooked, he says.

He said that senior Galway Gardaí have conceded to him that attempts to contain the drugs problem in Galway are being seriously hampered by a lack of resources.

Cllr Walsh says Galway is not guaranteed to remain exempt from the criminality and gangland shootings that are prevalent in Limerick and he says the problem must be tackled head-on.

“If we fail to deal with this issue now, then it is only a matter of time before we experience the gangland drug-related turf war which is plaguing the…