GARDAÍ SEIZED €11 million worth of drugs in the last month alone.

Acting Garda Commissioner Noirín O’Sullivan revealed this at the Garda Representative Association Conference in Killarney this evening, telling reporters the force is “determined to focus on drugs and organised crime.”

Ahead of her speech to the rank and file garda delegates she said: “This month alone, we have seized a substantial amount of drugs, over €11 million worth of heroin, cocaine, cannabis and ecstasy and a significant number of firearms – some very high-calibre firearms.

We’re relentless in our pursuit of people who try to profit from drugs and organised crime.

She said many of the people involved in drug crime are also smuggling cigarettes and firearms into the country and there are “dedicated resources” to deal with that.

GRA President John Parker, begged to differ, telling delegates in his speech that for every major drug seizure in the country, there were just as many “slipping through the net” because of poor resourcing.

“The actual financial situation is that the investigation of major incidents, policing high profile events or emergencies is costly and a large drain on the funding of routine day to day policing,” he said.

He said funds  are being spent on major investigations but then gardaí are left “scrapping the bottom of the barrel” and cutting back on routine patrols.

We’ll be bringing you the latest news from the conference in Killarney over the next couple of days so keep your eyes peeled. You can also follow @michellehtweet for updates throughout the day. 

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