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01st Jul 2019

Children being offered bags of heroin by drug dealers to get them hooked, Meath councillor claims

Conor Heneghan

heroin meath

“Drug dealers now feel free and feel they can deal openly in the community.”

An independent councillor in Meath claims that children are being offered bags of heroin by drug dealers in the village of Johnstown, near the county town of Navan.

In posts on social media and in an interview with LMFM, Councillor Alan Lawes said that the lack of a strong Garda presence in the area has allowed drug dealers to operate in the open, in areas such as the local shopping centre and local schools.

Lawes claimed that it has been reported to him that children are being offered bags of heroin by drug dealers in the area “in an attempt to get them hooked on drugs” and spoke of his desire to stop “a small group of individuals” from ruining the community.

“Drug dealing now is taking place in the open,” Lawes told LMFM.

“It’s taking place out in front of the shopping centre, it’s taking place out in front of the schools and the most frightening thing of all is that actually, it’s been reported to me that bags of heroin is [sic] being given to children.

“Drug dealers now feel free and feel they can deal openly in the community, now that tells you something in the sense that we need a bigger Garda presence in Johnstown, we need a visible deterrent from the Gardaí in the area.”

In a post on his Facebook page, Lawes urged anyone with information on the activity of drug dealers in the area to contact him and the Gardaí, and he also said he would be organising a public meeting in the near future to address the situation.

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