Children being ‘hooked into’ drug gangs in Cork city, former lord mayor claims

Children in Cork are being “hooked” into drug gangs, a former lord mayor and community activist has said.

It comes following comments made by Independent Ireland TD for Cork North Central Ken O’Flynn who raised the issue in the Dáil on Thursday, saying: “We have a situation in Cork where children as young as eight are being used as drug mules.

“Children as young as eight are knocking on doors and threatening people because they cannot be prosecuted.

“They are getting a couple of bags of sweets or a can of Coke after as their reward for threatening Mary and telling her they are going to burn out her car.”

Chris O’Leary, former lord mayor of Cork and a community activist for almost 40 years, told The Echo that the solution was proper resourcing of community gardaí and youth programmes.

He said: “It is very prevalent in communities right across Cork, not just disadvantaged communities.

“I know children who have been hooked into gangs, what happens is they’re encouraged to do little jobs, starting off with small things, and they’re rewarded.”

He explained: “These gangs get to know the young person very well, they’re very organised, and they tell them ‘it’s OK if you get stopped, nothing will happen to you because of your age, you’ll be taken home and maybe get a telling off in front of your parents, but you won’t go to jail’.

“Parents need to be mindful of where their children are going, who they are hanging around with — I’m always worried when there’s a child of eight hanging around with a 15-year-old.

“You might even see in certain families that older children are pressurised to get their little brothers or sisters to do some of the running, and the older sibling gets a payoff. Something I’ve also observed quite clearly in certain areas of the city is adults driving up in cars and a young person gets out and goes to meet someone around the corner for a drop.”

Mr O’Leary said that more community gardaí are needed as currently they are “very weak on the ground”.

Keeping their role separate to that of ordinary gardaí is necessary for the work they do, he said, explaining: “We can’t have a community garda, who has been working hard to build a relationship with young people and divert them away from these gangs, coming in to arrest someone.

“I’ve known some fantastic community gardaí in the city who are on first-name with everyone, go to the schools and clubs, can chat to children if they see them hanging around with older kids, that’s the kind of stuff that makes a difference.”

The Echo ed An Garda Síochána for comment.