A father has been forced to pay criminal drug gangs over €200,000 over the past 20 years to service a drug debt that never goes away, the Irish Mail on Sunday can reveal.
It is the latest shocking example of the nationwide epidemic of drug intimidation which campaigners have warned is not being taken seriously by the State.
'As the years have gone on the debt has got bigger. They keep adding on and we can never clear the debt. I got a second job so I could pay them every week and my son has given them all of his wages for the past few years,' the man, who is so scared he doesn't even want the province he lives in identified, told the MoS.
It comes as anti-intimidation workers reveal that terrified teenagers who owe drug debts to gangs are being warned not to take their own lives as violent criminals tell them: 'We'll go after your family instead.'
Gangs across the country are paying children as young as ten and supplying them with brand new phones to deliver threats to the families of people who owe them money.
The latest shocking revelations about drug-related intimidation (DRI) come as the Government faces mounting pressure to increase funding for specialist gardaí and community groups trying to support families on the frontline.
There were also calls this weekend to significantly increase a €300,000 Department of Health funded programme to help families targeted by drug gangs, which one opposition frontbencher noted was not enough 'to build a Dáil bicycle shed'.
Last week, the MoS reported how many rural and urban Garda divisions do not have the resources to investigate the number of official DRI complaints in their areas.
And these are believed to be just the tip of the iceberg of the overall problem, with thousands of innocent families across the country now believed to be in the grip of drug gangs over a debt owed by a relative.
Justice Minister Jim O'Callaghan and Garda Commissioner Justin Kelly have come under increasing pressure to clamp down on criminal dealers wreaking havoc across communities following the recent horrific deaths of a couple and their two children in an arson attack in Waterford city.
Philip English, his wife Kym and their sons, 12-year-old Callum and nine-year-old Jayden, all perished when their home was firebombed.
Two other children, a teen girl and a younger boy, remain in a critical condition in hospital.
Justice Minister Jim O'Callaghan and Garda Commissioner Justin Kelly have come under increasing pressure to clamp down on criminal dealers wreaking havoc across communities following the recent horrific deaths of a couple and their two children in an arson attack in Waterford city.
Philip English, his wife Kym and their sons, 12-year-old Callum and nine-year-old Jayden, all perished when their home was firebombed
The English family was targeted because of a €20,000 drug debt that was owed by someone who was known to them.
And according to Stephen Murphy, Chair of the South Eastern Regional Drug and Alcohol Task Force and Director of Service at the Fr McGrath Family Resource Centre in Kilkenny, 'this is happening all over the country.'
Referring to the 1996 murder of the Sunday Independent crime journalist, Mr Murphy said he initially hoped the horrific arson attack in Waterford 'would be our Veronica Guerin moment… when we wake up in Ireland to the insidious threat, the evil that these people are inflicting on communities across the country'.
But he fears the public outrage and political promises to combat the growing crisis will dissipate with time.
A total of 1,027 cases of drug-related intimidation were reported in 2024 and last year, with every county in the country affected.
'I have spent €200,000 over the past 20 years to keep my son safe'
The pensioner is at his wit's end with the drug intimidation he and his family have suffered
PADDY* has been relentlessly pursued by criminals for the past 20 years to pay-off drug 'debts' incurred by his son.
And despite handing-over a staggering €200,000 in cash, the drug dealers still insist they are owed more money.
The pensioner remains so afraid he is unwilling to even say what province he lives in.
'As the years have gone on the debt has got bigger. They keep adding on and we can never clear the debt.
'I got a second job so I could pay them every week and my son has given them all of his wages for the past few years.
'The debt has never gotten any smaller. When I say small, I mean €8,000… that was in the early days. Now they are saying my son owes in the region of €20,000 to €30,000.
'It's drug addiction my son has, and now they are blackmailing him as well. They got their claws into him and they won't let him go.
'At one stage he was in jail, and when he got out they came after him. Of course, he didn't have it, so they came after us, his parents.
'We sold some land. The money was in the bank. I've paid about €200,000 over the past 20 years.
'They start ringing us first, saying: 'We'll put a bullet in your son's head or torch your house." And what do you do? I couldn't take a gamble on that. I had no choice.
'We've had concrete blocks thrown in through our windows; we've had people wearing hoodies calling to the house late at night, and they have broken latches in the door after kicking the door.
'They expect you to answer the door and they keep their backs to the door, so if you had a camera they cannot be identified.
'They go through social media, Facebook and TikTok, and they get the names of your relatives and where they might be living.
'One of our other children lives abroad, and they were able to tell me her name and where she was living.
'They contacted her on social media and sent her messages. If there is a weak link, these people will find it, and our son was vulnerable.
'One of these gangs was looking for €8,000, and he said he would accept €4,000 cash, and then I was told to put money into a bank account every week.
'I would get a text every Wednesday asking whether the money had gone through into the bank account.
'I can't sleep at night because of the torment they are causing my family. You can't tell your younger children because you would worry them to death.
'We feel very alone and helpless. These people have a strong grip. They have their local contacts and they know what is going on.
'When my son was sent to jail, he didn't want bail because he wanted to try and improve his life in there, to educate himself, maybe even get a trade.
'This is happening in every parish in the country. No one can afford to throw stones because you don't know when it will come to your door.'
* not his real name
In May, the first nationwide report on drug-related intimidation published by the Drive [Drug Related Intimidation and Violence Engagement] project found the problem is 'pervasive' across all counties and all communities.
The highest number of cases were in Mr Murphy's South Eastern Regional Drugs and Alcohol Task Force area, which includes Waterford, where 125 cases have been reported.
This was followed by the Mid-West, with 96 cases, and Dublin's north inner city with 87.
Mr Murphy said gangs have become increasingly confident of ensuring families' silence using threats of extreme violence.
He told the MoS: 'I have heard this on numerous occasions… when you have a debt to a drug dealer, the dealer tells you: "Don't even think of killing yourself – because if you do, it doesn't eliminate your debt, it just passes onto your family."
'I know grandmothers and parents that have had to pay off those debts for fear of what happened to that family in Waterford.
'They have been threatened by the drug dealers or they have
had children calling to their door and saying, "Missus, if you don't pay your son's debt, even if he is dead, they're going to rape your daughter or break your other son's legs."
'This is happening all over the country. Ten years ago, it was rare for me to hear someone saying they were told: "If you kill yourself, your family will have to pay it or we'll chase your family."
'Now it's almost common practice. If you don't clear that debt, if you end up in rehab or whatever, your family will have to pay it.'
Mr Murphy said drug dealers increasingly employ young children – usually from poorer or vulnerable backgrounds – to do their dirty work.
In some cases, they pay children as young as ten and 11 and supply them with expensive phones to carry out threats on their behalf in person.
'The drug dealers are paying them and giving them brand-new Apple phones.
'These children would go to the door of the house, and they'd be very polite because they were neighbours, and they would say: "Missus, it's not us, we're not threatening but we've been paid to tell you that, if you don't pay your son's, your daughter's, debt, they're going to burn out your car or they're going to petrol bomb your home".'
Wexford councillor Jim Codd, who has faced personal threats for speaking out, confirmed that petrol bombings are now common practice in rural areas.
'These people cannot unhook themselves once they are in,' Mr Codd said.
The Aontú councillor, who represents Rosslare on Wexford County Council, said many innocent lives are being destroyed over a relative's drug debt.
He told the MoS: 'I know one young man who was put in the back of a transit van, and two fellas broke his leg and threw him out on the side of the road over a cocaine debt which wasn't much more than €2,000.'
Despite the scale of the problem that destroys the lives of families in every corner of the country, the HSE-lead Drive programme was initially allocated just €280,000 nationally for this year.
Wexford councillor Jim Codd, who has faced personal threats for speaking out, confirmed that petrol bombings are now common practice in rural areas
'That works out at €13,000 per Garda district,' Mr Murphy noted. 'It's a mere drop in the ocean given what we are up against and the problem we are experiencing.'
Mr Murphy added: 'The war on drugs was lost a long time ago. They are fighting a losing battle. €280,000 being spent nationally… it's a step and it's the right step, but a lot more money needs to be invested and we need to give some serious weight to the guards to address the intimidation issue.'
Despite the public outcry following the deaths of the English family, the community worker said brazen drug gangs in Waterford and the south east have not even paused their campaign of threats and violence against families.
He told the MoS: 'Of course it [drug intimidation] is [still happening]. Why would they change just because of one flash in the pan that has happened down in Waterford?'
He said: 'It is progressively getting worse and worse, and they [gangs] are becoming fearless and very, very, powerful.
'They are wealthy, they are well organised and they are absolutely ruthless, and it is an existential threat to our State.
'I just hope this is an absolute wake-up call about the insidious evil threat that drug gangs pose to our society.'
In September, the Department of Health announced an extra allocation of €65,000 to support the Drive programme, bringing the overall finding for this year to €345,000.
However, opposition parties and community activists say far greater funding is needed to support the programme.
Social Democrats justice spokesman Gary Gannon told the MoS: 'It has to be a matter of concern that the State's only programme dealing with drugs intimidation received just €345,000 this year – that would not be enough to build a Dáil bicycle shed.'
Gary Gannon TD says: 'It has to be a matter of concern that the State's only programme dealing with drugs intimidation received just €345,000 this year – that would not be enough to build a Dáil bicycle shed'
The Department of Health said €300,000 has been allocated for the Drive project next year.,
A spokesperson said: 'The Department of Health has, to date, provided a total of €1.09 million for the Drive project.
The allocation of new recurring funding of €300,000 provided in Budget 2027 will provide additional Drive Leads across the Task Force and Regional Health areas to increase the capacity of the project.'
They added the Department 'will keep future funding requirements under review in the context of the implementation of the National Drugs Strategy 2026-2030'.
Gardaí this weekend said drug related intimidation 'is a high priority for An Garda Síochána'.
A spokesman stressed victims can report threats and intimidation anonymously to their local Garda station as part of the Drug Related Intimidation Programme.
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