Drug debt beatings in ballyjamesduff

Claims that young men who owe money for drugs are suffering beatings in the Ballyjamesduff area led to calls for the return of a garda squad car in the south Cavan town, which was removed just before Christmas.
The Celt understands, however, that the patrol car was reinstated in recent weeks.
The issues were debated at a meeting of the County Cavan Joint Policing Committee (JPC) on Friday. Sinn Féin councillor Noel Connell claimeid that a number of men sustained drug debt-related beatings just last week.
He said that enforcement gangs are coming down from Dublin and are operating freely on the streets of Ballyjamesduff.
“No one will talk about this activity. Is it possible that we can start bringing up issues like that here at these Joint Policing Committee meetings? What is the situation in that regard,” he asked.
“Superintendent, I would like to ask you about gangland problems in Virginia and Ballyjamesduff. Would you agree that this is really serious at the moment?” asked Cllr Connell of the Chief Superintendent of the Cavan Monaghan Garda Division.

Families moved down
Responding, Chief Supt Jim Sheridan said: “We can’t talk here about individual incidents. Obviously there have been a number of high profile cases over the last number of years.
“There are obviously a number of different families who have moved down here from Dublin, which I would say is a factor in other people coming down.”
He added: “If there are issues in relation to drugs, obviously it is our role to try and address that.”
Chief Supt Sheridan pointed out that the Gardaí could not solve all these problems on their own. “We are looking very seriously at a number of drug issues in the county. I’m not going to deny that there are criminal gangs who have come down from Dublin to Cavan over the last few years,” he said. Cllr Connell said there is an urgency to deal with crimes as soon as possible.

Garda numbers increased
Chief Supt Sheridan said that, following representations to him about the number of gardaí in Ballyjamesduff by Cllr Paddy Smith, he had brought the number back up to what they were a number of years ago.
Cllr Clifford Kelly: “There is a feeling out there right throughout the county at the present time that we no longer have a unit within the Garda Siochána dealing strictly with the drugs situation.” He added that this was causing problems throughout the county in various different communities.
“There is a feeling out there that there is no fear of detection because that unit does not exit as it did,” said Cllr Kelly.

Detections doubled
Chief Supt Sheridan pointed out that the number of detections doubled in 2014. He added that he could not speak about individual cases but very significant detections had been made recently in relation to people who are involved in the supply of drugs. “Those are cases that will be coming before the courts and I don’t wish to comment any further on them. I think it will become evident in the coming months the efforts we are putting in to address some of the issues around drugs in the county,” he said.
Cllr Paddy Smith said that unfortunately Ballyjamesduff lost its Squad car shortly after Christmas. He added that while there is a full contingent of gardaí, they are not mobile. Addressing Chief Supt Sheridan, Cllr Smith said: “If you can, give consideration to the return of the squad car.”
The Celt understands, following the JPC meeting, that the squad car has been redesignated to Ballyjamesduff in recent weeks.
The Cavan-Monaghan division has also seen dramatic cuts, from 413 gardaí in March 2010 to just 322 in January this year. This is in addition to the Government’s decision to shut down the only garda drugs unit in Cavan-Monaghan.