'Hidden' cases of drug-debt intimidation

Communities starting to 'push back'

Twenty-one cases of drug-debt intimidation were reported to gardaí in Cavan and Monaghan in 2024 - the latest year for which figures are available - but experts suggest the true number is much higher such is the “hidden” nature of the crime.

The stark figures were revealed at a meet of the Monaghan Local Community Safety Partnership last Thursday, October 15, just two days after a family of four in Waterford were wiped out in an arson attack, believed to be linked to alleged drug-debt intimidation.

Andy Ogle, Co-ordinator of the North Eastern Regional Drugs and Alcohol Task Force (HERDATF), told attendees that an increasing number of families, faced with drug-related intimidation, are reaching out for support.

“Many families will choose to pay the debts if they can,” Mr Ogle noted, “but more families are reporting intimidation to the gardaí and using the weight of the law to push back against the people who are doing the intimidating.”

In a presentation on the work of NERDATF, Mr Ogle said the Safety Partnership was meeting on the same day as the national conference of the Drug-Related intimidation and Violence Engagement (DRIVE) inter-agency response group, which he expected to be “a sombre affair” in light of the English family deaths and murder investigation.

While there had been less than 10 reported incidents of such intimidation in Co Monaghan and 11 in Cavan during the first year of DRIVE’s collation of data, Mr Ogle admits: “We know there are more.”

He suggests that DRIVE Co-ordinator for the North East, Melissa Agnew, be invited to give a presentation to a future LCSP meeting.

Mr Ogle, meanwhile, pointed to organisations such as the Family Addiction Support Network and the Cavan and Monaghan Drug and Alcohol Service as providing ongoing supports for drug users and those dealing with drug-debt intimidation.

The Chair of the Monaghan Local Community Safety Partnership, Alan Johnston, meanwhile, called on Minister for Justice Jim O’Callaghan to make all necessary resources available to Gardaí and other state agencies to heighten policing measures against drug-related intimidation and tackle the issue head-on.

Cllr Johnston (FG) also moved that a motion of sympathy be extended to the surviving family of Kim English, Philip English, and sons Callum and Jayden, who were laid to rest on Monday.

He branded the Waterford attack as a “watershed moment” in drug-related intimidation and violence.

“No one should live in a community where innocent people are being murdered for something they didn’t do and were not involved in,” the LCSP Chair stated, describing such intimidation as “a smouldering issue” locally.

“There is probably more going on than we understand but it is hidden beyond view,” he surmised.

Cllr Johnston encouraged victims to contact Gardaí or appropriate agencies for help.

Garda Superintendent Pat O’Connell echoed the vote of condolence, describing the Waterford incident as the worst gardaí had seen in recent times, with a full homicide investigation now underway.

Supt O’Connell said a Detective Inspector is appointed in each Garda division to liaise directly with people subjected to threats, with Det Inspt Adrian Durcan the contact for Louth Cavan Monaghan Division.