The Independent Ireland TD for Cork North-Central, who has called for an “absolute crackdown” on drug-related intimidation after a fatal fire in Waterford City.
“I have sat in kitchens in my own constituency with mothers and fathers in floods of tears,” O’Flynn said. “Their cars burnt out. Their windows smashed. Threats made against them or against another member of their family, very often over a drug debt run up by someone they love. Many of them owe nothing to anyone.”
His comments follow a fire at a home in the Birchwood area of Waterford City that killed four members of the same family. Philip and Kim English and their two young sons, Callum and Jayden, died in the blaze. Two more children are fighting for their lives. Gardaí believe the attack is linked to drug-related intimidation.
Deputy O’Flynn said: “What happened in Waterford is every family’s worst nightmare. Philip and Kim English and their two young sons, Callum and Jayden, were murdered in their own home while they slept. Two more children are fighting for their lives. My thoughts and prayers are with them, their family and the people of Birchwood.”
He said the problem was not confined to one place. “This is not something happening somewhere else,” he said.
Deputy O’Flynn said some targeted families have been forced to relocate. “Some of these families have had to leave everything behind and start again in a different county. They were the lucky ones. Many more cannot get out at all. They are in local authority housing, and they do not qualify for a transfer under the current anti-social behaviour rules, so they are left sitting in the same house, waiting for the next knock on the door.”
He said he has been working with Gardaí on such cases but was critical of the response. “The response on the ground has been inconsistent, and local authorities have been slow to engage when families ask to be moved to safety,” he said. “That cannot continue.”
O’Flynn called for “an absolute crackdown and zero tolerance for intimidation used to collect drug debts”, and set out four measures: