Fianna Fail’s latest press release about the heroin problem, from the hand of Eoin Ryan (right) highlights once again why it takes us so long to deal with any problem here in Ireland – we don’t face up to our problems and we try to waffle our way out of actually taking any meaningful action -.

Unsurprisingly, Eoin Ryan manages to blame Dublin’s drug problem on someone else, thousands of miles away – Afghan farmers -.

Better still, he implies that the responsibility for dealing with this problem lies with the EU and UN. Both these bodies are utterly incapable of dealing with this problem. He is bold as brass – expecting us to believe that a EUR 10m grant will have any effect on opiates production in a massive, hilly country that has been beaten down by poverty and is governed by warlords.

Eoin Ryan also plays down the risks associated with smoking heroin – he says the ‘real’ risk is that smokers will begin injecting later on. Is this guy wired to the moon? Does he really think that it’s alright that young people in Dublin are smoking skag?

You’d wonder whether Eoin Ryan has ever actually been in Dublin city centre. If he had, he might have noticed a curious thing – there are almost no facilities whatsoever for kids to exercise and have fun. No football pitches, very few swimming pools and persistent petty crime on the streets.

Maybe he could get his own house in order before he starts telling the Afghan authorities how to run their country.