In relation to Question No. 6, the question of very serious crime in the north city centre area, where a recent survey has shown that 12 per cent of teenagers are addicted to heroin, would the Minister tell us exactly what the position is now in relation to the Drugs Squad? He made a statement on it in his Estimates speech which I took to mean that the Drugs Squad had been downgraded, that the chief superintendent we had put in to co-ordinate the activity in this area had been removed and that it had been amalgamated with the serious crime section and under a detective superindendent in that section. Would the Minister tell us exactly what the position is because this is an extremely important area? I am a bit concerned about the Minister saying someone has suggested that if problems are tackled too vigorously in one area they will be transferred to another area. I would ask the Minister not to let himself be deterred in any way by that suggestion. If necessary there must be a similar pursuit in the other areas so that ultimately people know there is no hiding place for them and that they will end up in jail if they persist with the housebreaking and other activities that are taking place.

(Limerick East): The Deputy obviously misunderstood me on the Estimates speech. There is no question whatever of downgrading the Drugs Squad. Indeed, the whole idea is to upgrade it. The problem of drugs cannot be dealt with in isolation and drugs, organised crime and various other criminal activities are interlinked. It is quite appropriate that serious crime and the problem of drugs should be interlinked at the top of the pyramid. There is a great awareness of the need for an efficient and effective Drugs Squad in this city. Recommendations will be emerging from the ministerial report on the drugs problem. One thing that is quite clear to me even without reading the report is that we cannot deal with the problem of drugs in isolation simply as a law and order issue. It is a wider issue than that, and even within the justice area and the area of policing it also ties in strongly with serious crime. Because of the cost of drugs on the streets people who are addicted get involved in criminal activity to acquire the money to pay for the drugs which they need to satisfy their addiction. I can assure the Deputy and the House that, far from downgrading the Drugs Squad, we appreciate their work and they are being upgraded if anything. Their organisation has been seriously looked at, some changes have been made in their deployment, but I would suggest that it will benefit the situation. I think the Deputy just misunderstood what I said on the Estimate.

As regards transferring crime, the point I was making is that if a community watch is organised in an individual housing estate it will be very effective in preventing crime in that housing estate but that it may have the effect that the minority of criminals resident in that housing estate will operate in a neighbouring one where such a community watch system is not organised. The difficulty is that I do not see a solution if crime is merely transferred from one part of the city to another. In looking at the whole idea of community relationships with the Garda, if it is to be formalised it will have to be implemented over a wide area rather than in one particular section of a county, a city or a town.

I accept the Minister's assurance——