Farmers are selling their cattle to pay off drug debts in rural Ireland.
That’s according to a new report from Irish Country Living, which says Gardaí believe decent, hardworking families are being terrorised by drugs gangs.
According to Garda sources, drug intimidation is now more lucrative for criminals than the sale of drugs themselves.
Irish Country Living journalist Jacqueline Hogge says it’s being described as an epidemic in rural areas, noting; “They’re arriving at the homes of young people who are caught up in this world and they’re demanding the drug debt be repaid by the families, again there still is such stigma and shame regarding drug use in rural Ireland that these families are, as the report says, selling cattle, selling other assets to try and raise money to keep these people from their front doors”.
The publication in full is out today with the Irish Farmers Journal.
