Minister for Justice Brian Lenihan yesterday insisted that the State was winning "the war on drugs" and he said he had no doubt but that the judiciary was handing down sufficiently harsh sentences to combat the problem.
Mr Lenihan said the Garda was making record drug seizures, while it had also succeeded in securing convictions for record numbers of people involved in the drugs trade at all levels, as reflected in the largest prison population in 80 years.
"I can assure you that the gardaí are waging unrelenting war on drugs and drugs distribution," said Mr Lenihan, at the official opening of the newly refurbished Fermoy Courthouse in north Co Cork as part of a €7 million redevelopment of the building which also houses town and county council offices.
Asked about the fact that a mandatory 10-year sentence was applied in only three out of 57 convictions in 2006, Mr Lenihan disagreed with his predecessor Michael McDowell and said he believed the courts were handing down sufficiently firm sentences in drug cases.
In December 2006 Mr McDowell expressed concern at the high number of serious drug offences where judges were opting not to impose the mandatory 10-year minimum sentence provided for by statute because defendants were pleading exceptional circumstances.
But Mr Lenihan said yesterday that he was satisfied from reading court reports that judges were imposing sufficiently severe sentences in drug cases to ensure that serious drug criminals were being jailed for long periods.
"I've taken a somewhat different view on this from my predecessor ...
"I have a record number of people in prison, so clearly they (the judiciary) are committing people who commit serious offences to prison.
"There is a mandatory sentence of 10 years but the courts must have some element of discretion - sometimes part of the 10-year sentence is suspended if a person gives very valuable information to the gardaí and that is taken into account."
