Clare has one of the smallest drugs unit of any Garda Division in Ireland.
Figures released to the Dáil by the Justice Minister show there were 2 rank-and-file Gardaí and 1 Sergeant attached to the Clare Garda Division’s drugs unit at the end of June, the latest date for which details are available.
The Laois/Offaly Division has the same number and no other Division has fewer than that.
By comparison, Donegal has 21 Gardaí in its Drugs Unit.
Waterford has 13, Galway and Kerry have 9, Mayo has 8 and one of the Dublin area Garda Divisions has 30.
There are 308 Gardaí assigned to tackle drug-related crimes in Garda Divisions throughout the country, and at times they are supported by a national bureau.
The Justice Minister says the responsability for allocation of Garda resources rests with the force itself.
Despite these numbers, Clare Gardaí reported a nine percent increase last year in the number of detected drugs-related offences here.
In the first three months of this year, there were eighty arrests of people who were found to be carrying drugs for personal use in Clare, the highest level of any three month period since 2015.
