INTERNMENT OF DRUG PUSHERS

Sir, - The recent call from Labour Party Cllr Eamonn O'Brien ( The Irish Times, March 11th ) for the introduction of selective internment of all known and active drug pushers is a matter for much concern.

Is this the official Labour Party policy or Cllr O'Brien's own? I seem to recall that the current president of the Labour Party also called for the introduction of internment some years ago in relation to the security situation in Northern Ireland.

While there is no doubt that the country, and Dublin in particular, has a huge drugs problem, and as someone working directly in the Ballymun community to combat the drugs scourge, I am more aware than most of the extent of that problem, the solution hardly lies in mass internment.

All internment is selective - unless the entire community interns itself.  Who does the selecting? Who gets selected for internment - just drugs dealers? or, given that laws of evidence and the right to a fair trial go out the window, what guarantees can exist that innocent people won't become victims of the blunt weapon of internment.

Surely it is the duty of public representatives to ensure that, before Draconian laws are enacted, the use of the existing laws is examined more closely.  Cllr O'Brien should be aware that in his own area the gardai have recently had a greatly increased level of success and several leading drug dealers have received lengthy jail sentences.

That success has been due to a strong level of co-operation between the gardai, local authorities and the community of Ballymun.  Perhaps public representatives could be more supportive of that local cooperative effort rather than recklessly calling for anti-democratic measures such as internment.  - Yours, etc.

Sean O'Cionnaith, The Workers Party, Ballymun, Dublin 9.