I support Senators Ardagh, Ruane and Humphreys, who have called for a debate in this House on the drugs issue. It is no wonder that people are looking to get extra territory because this is a very lucrative business. I recently attended a policing board meeting in Castlebar, County Mayo. Every second speaker at the meeting spoke about the drugs issue, which is affecting people across the length and breadth of County Mayo, which is probably one of the most rural parts of this country.

We are even hearing about this problem in County Kerry.

There is no doubt that there is a drugs epidemic in this country. If we were to contain it, or even to try to contain it, we would need twice as many gardaí as we have at present. I suggest that when we debate this matter, we should consider the introduction of drug testing in the workplace. We need to tackle this problem from the other end. There are countries where drug testing is done in the workplace. People in the construction sector in Australia are rightly tested for drugs. I recently met an employer who exports to the UK. When his employees were working on a project some time ago, the company from which he had got the contract announced that it needed to carry out drug tests. He was absolutely shocked when four of his employees failed the test. We need to broaden out the debate by looking at alternative ways of combatting the serious issue of drug abuse and drug pushing, which is prevalent throughout the length and breadth of the country. I have no doubt that if we were to introduce drug testing in the workplace, even on a pilot basis, we would send a clear message to people who go to work after taking drugs in the belief that such activity has no consequences. I read yesterday that a professional soccer player was suspended for six weeks for taking drugs on a night out. As a consequence of failing a drugs test, he was suspended for six weeks and had to suffer the associated humiliation. We need a dose of reality here. I suggest we should look at the introduction of drug testing in the workplace.

I would like to speak about the Building Community Resilience report on the Dublin South-Central area, where I live. The report covers an area that radiates out from the Liberties. As other Senators have said, this problem affects more than one area in the country. The dogs on the street know this. I am on the street, and I know it. I am a Liberties girl. I was born, reared and educated in the area and I work there. I remember a time when I worked as a Saturday girl in Frawley's of Thomas Street. That was the hub where all working-class people went. Frawley's sold affordable items in every category. It was an Aladdin's cave. It shut down quite a long time ago. When I asked why it was closing, I was told it was closing because there were no more poor people in Dublin. I do not know what that reason was. I am on the ground. I work in that area. I do not ignore the people. I have heard it said that people do not bother to come out to vote because they cannot be arsed. I apologise because that is probably not parliamentary language.

It is certainly not.

The alienation of the young people of the area is replicated elsewhere. We call the people of these areas the people of no property. There is something askew here. It seems that people who have no property and no say, and cannot plan for the future, are being punished. The intergenerational effects of drugs on these areas are phenomenal. Many grandmothers are raising their grandchildren because their children are incapable of doing so due to their addiction issues. Children as young as ten years of age are alienated because they have been groomed and sent out to work for these criminals. We all know who those criminals are. The gardaí know who they are. Young people are being egged on to engage in anti-social behaviour. A guy on his bicycle was attacked along the Grand Canal yesterday or the day before. That happens on a regular basis. The same cohort of young people have been terrorising the neighbourhood since they were eight years of age. They are now 15 years of age. They act as lookouts for criminal drug lords. I would like to have a conversation on these matters in the Seanad. Why do we keep punishing areas like this, instead of enabling and encouraging investment and education in them?

Well said.