REGRET at the sudden termination of the Dial to Stop Drug Dealing initiative comes from Cllr Maurice Quinlivan. A vocal supporter of the project, the city northside councillor who has actively campaigned for the free phone number access that facilitated members of the public to report drug dealing confidentially and anonymously, Cllr Quinlivan said that he Gardai had confirmed that they had substantial success in the seizure of drugs as a result of information received on the Non-Garda phone line.
“The Dial to Stop Drug Dealing” free phone number was a successful initiative which Sinn Féin had long campaigned for.
“I very much regret the announcement that funding for the scheme is to be terminated and the phoneline no longer in operation from last Friday,” he said.
Acknowledging those members of the public who had used the facility in the fight against drug dealers “who have destroyed many lives, families and communities across Limerick,” Cllr Quinlivan said the scheme had the potential to allow communities to help combat drug-related crime.
He said he believed that if properly promoted it would have provided a tool to enable communities to fight back safely against the drug menace.
“It was a safe way for local people, fed up of drug dealers in their locality to fight back and could have led to greater success in the fight against drug and gang crime in the city”.
Cllr Quinlivan, who is on record for regularly calling on Limerick City Council and the Garda Siochana to provide additional resources in the fight to remove drug dealing from the city streets, warned:
“The drugs problem we have in Limerick, without firm action, will only worsen.
“The sad reality of drug dealing is reflected in the number of drug deaths which we see across Limerick, and while successive governments have continuously failed to adequately resource the fight against drugs, the phoneline was another resource that will now be absent in the city”.
