A father has been forced to pay criminal drug gangs over €200,000 over the past 20 years to service a drug debt that never goes away, the Irish Mail on Sunday can reveal.
asserted
Mail → force → Sunday
It is the latest shocking example of the nationwide epidemic of drug intimidation which campaigners have warned is not being taken seriously by the State.
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campaigners → warn → State
‘As the years have gone on the debt has got bigger.
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debt → go → ?
They keep adding on and we can never clear the debt.
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we → keep → debt
I got a second job so I could pay them every week and my son has given them all of his wages for the past few years,’ the man, who is so scared he doesn’t even want the province he lives in identified, told the MoS.
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he → get → MoS.
It comes as anti-intimidation workers reveal that terrified teenagers who owe drug debts to gangs are being warned not to take their own lives as violent criminals tell them: ‘We’ll go after your family instead.
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We → come → family
’
Gangs across the country are paying children as young as ten and supplying them with brand new phones to deliver threats to the families of people who owe them money.
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who → pay → money
The latest shocking revelations about drug-related intimidation (DRI) come as the Government faces mounting pressure to increase funding for specialist gardaí and community groups trying to support families on the frontline.
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Government → relate → frontline
There were also calls this weekend to significantly increase a €300,000 Department of Health funded programme to help families targeted by drug gangs, which one opposition frontbencher noted was not enough ‘to build a Dáil bicycle shed’.
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frontbencher → be → shed
Last week, the MoS reported how many rural and urban Garda divisions do not have the resources to investigate the number of official DRI complaints in their areas.
And these are believed to be just the tip of the iceberg of the overall problem, with thousands of innocent families across the country now believed to be in the grip of drug gangs over a debt owed by a relative.
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thousands → report → relative
Justice Minister Jim O’Callaghan and Garda Commissioner Justin Kelly have come under increasing pressure to clamp down on criminal dealers wreaking havoc across communities following the recent horrific deaths of a couple and their two children in an arson attack in Waterford city.
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O’Callaghan → come → city
Philip English, his wife Kym and their sons, 12-year-old Callum and nine-year-old Jayden, all perished when their home was firebombed.
Two other children, a teen girl and a younger boy, remain in a critical condition in hospital.
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children → perish → hospital
Justice Minister Jim O’Callaghan and Garda Commissioner Justin Kelly have come under increasing pressure to clamp down on criminal dealers wreaking havoc across communities following the recent horrific deaths of a couple and their two children in an arson attack in Waterford city.
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O’Callaghan → come → city
Philip English, his wife Kym and their sons, 12-year-old Callum and nine-year-old Jayden, all perished when their home was firebombed
The English family was targeted because of a €20,000 drug debt that was owed by someone who was known to them.
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who → perish → them
And according to Stephen Murphy, Chair of the South Eastern Regional Drug and Alcohol Task Force and Director of Service at the Fr McGrath Family Resource Centre in Kilkenny, ‘this is happening all over the country.’
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this → accord → country
Referring to the 1996 murder of the Sunday Independent crime journalist, Mr Murphy said he initially hoped the horrific arson attack in Waterford ‘would be our Veronica Guerin moment… when we wake up in Ireland to the insidious threat, the evil that these people are inflicting on communities across the country’.
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people → refer → country
But he fears the public outrage and political promises to combat the growing crisis will dissipate with time.
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outrage → fear → time
A total of 1,027 cases of drug-related intimidation were reported in 2024 and last year, with every county in the country affected.
'I have spent €200,000 over the past 20 years to keep my son safe'
The pensioner is at his wit's end with the drug intimidation he and his family have suffered
PADDY* has been relentlessly pursued by criminals for the past 20 years to pay-off drug ‘debts’ incurred by his son.
And despite handing-over a staggering €200,000 in cash, the drug dealers still insist they are owed more money.
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they → relate → money
The pensioner remains so afraid he is unwilling to even say what province he lives in.
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he → remain → province
‘As the years have gone on the debt has got bigger.
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debt → go → ?
They keep adding on and we can never clear the debt.
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we → keep → debt
'I got a second job so I could pay them every week and my son has given them all of his wages for the past few years.
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son → get → years
‘The debt has never gotten any smaller.
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debt → get → ?
When I say small, I mean €8,000… that was in the early days.
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that → say → days
Now they are saying my son owes in the region of €20,000 to €30,000.
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son → say → 30,000
‘It’s drug addiction my son has, and now they are blackmailing him as well.
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they → ’ → him
They got their claws into him and they won’t let him go.
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him → get → him
'At one stage he was in jail, and when he got out they came after him.
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they → get → him
Of course, he didn’t have it, so they came after us, his parents.
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they → have → us
‘We sold some land.
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We → sell → land
I’ve paid about €200,000 over the past 20 years.
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I → pay → years
‘They start ringing us first, saying: ‘We’ll put a bullet in your son’s head or torch your house.”
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We → ring → house
And what do you do?
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you → do → what
I couldn’t take a gamble on that.
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I → take → that
I had no choice.
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I → have → choice
‘We’ve had concrete blocks thrown in through our windows; we’ve had people wearing hoodies calling to the house late at night, and they have broken latches in the door after kicking the door.
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they → throw → door
They expect you to answer the door and they keep their backs to the door, so if you had a camera they cannot be identified.
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they → expect → camera
‘They go through social media, Facebook and TikTok, and they get the names of your relatives and where they might be living.
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they → go → relatives
One of our other children lives abroad, and they were able to tell me her name and where she was living.
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she → live → name
They contacted her on social media and sent her messages.
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They → contact → messages
…and 52 more, not listed.
The Aporia
