Kenny links latest Dublin killing to 'scandalous' drugs situation

Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny has linked the murder of a man shot outside his home in west Dublin on Friday night to drug crime.

Thomas McDonagh (28), the father of a two-year-old boy, was shot by a lone gunman at St Mark's Estate in Ronanstown just after 9.30pm.

Mr McDonagh was the second man to be shot in west Dublin in a 10-day period. A 23-year-old Clondalkin man was shot in front of his girlfriend at the couple's home in January.

Speaking at the Young Fine Gael conference, Mr Kenny said he had recently met community groups and gardaí in Ronanstown and had been told that drug-dealing was "rampant" there. The killing of Mr McDonagh was "another tragic assassination in the west of Dublin".

"I was out there in the Ronanstown community recently. I spoke to the gardaí, I spoke to parents, I spoke to young people about the absolute rampant selling of drugs in that area, and now we've had another tragedy."

He said parents in the area had told him that their children were being approached by drug-dealers as they walked to school. Schoolchildren were using drugs and people had to accept that this was the case and deal with the problem.

"We've had two assassinations in the last 10 days associated with drugs. When parents at public meetings tell me their children have to walk through drug-pushers in certain areas of our cities, that's a scandalous situation."

Mr Kenny said that education was vital to weaning people off drugs A Fine Gael-led government would introduce a system of random drug and alcohol testing in secondary schools on a voluntary basis.