Proposals to establish special courts to deal with drugs offenders will be considered by an expert group, meeting in Dublin this weekend.
The meeting of Irish and American experts - convened by the chairwoman of the Courts Commission, Mrs Justice Susan Denham - will study the feasibility of "drugs courts" for people charged with non-violent drugs offences.
Plans for the meeting were annou8nced by the Minister for Justice, Mr O'Donoghue, during his 1 1/2-hour visit yesterday to Ballymun, in north Dublin, where he heard details of community, local authority and Garda co-operation in tackling the area's drugs problems.
The idea of special drugs courts was put forward by Fianna Fail during last year's election campaign, and Mr O'Donoghue said he was very supportive of the idea. It could lead to non-violent drugs offenders being sent for rehabilitation, where appropriate, instead of serving normal custodial sentences.
Mr O'Donoghue said a representative of the commission had recently returned from the US with a favourable report on the operation of drugs courts there. But he stressed that ultimately their implementation would be a matter for the Courts Service which would be independent of the Department of Justice and was expected to be established by the autumn.
The Minister's visit was at the invitation of the local drugs task force, which particularly wanted to draw his attention to the inadequate facilities at the local Garda station.
If the station was overcrowded previously, it certainly was yesterday as the Minister toured the narrow corridors accompanied by a phalanx of gardai, community activists, civil servants, corporation officials, a TV crew, photographers and reporters.
The Minister agreed the building was inadequate to cater for the 59 gardai stationed there and the needs of community representatives who had to travel to Santry and Whitehall stations for meetings with Garda representatives. He said the Office of Public Works was looking for another site.
The tour concluded with a meeting at which locals outlined the extent of the drugs problem in the area.
However, locals and gardai agreed that in spite of the prevailing problems, co-operation between the community and the Garda has been excellent.
Anti-drugs marches in the area have led to none of the tension between activists and the authorities associated with some areas of Dublin. "The guards here take part in the marches," said Mr Sean O Cionnaith, chairman of the Ballymun Local Drugs task force. New closed-circuit cameras operated jointly by the Garda, Dublin Corporation and community representatives, and financed by a £60,000 grant from the ministerial drugs task force, will be in place next month.
Mr Hugh Greaves, co-ordinator of the Ballymun task force, said these would help the gardai deal with the changing nature of the drugs problem which has seen an increase in the number of pushers.
