Cocaine Kids: Child dealers caught up in illegal drugs trade

Children are openly selling illegal drugs in Ireland's towns and cities, while some as young as seven years old are being groomed into working as drug mules, according to workers who deal with drug users and affected communities.

They say it is a nationwide issue and a particular problem in Dublin.

"It's very troubling, particularly the age of them, because many of these young people are being groomed into serious criminality," criminologist and community activist Trina O’Connor said after viewing footage collected by RTÉ’s Prime Time.

During several weeks of undercover filming, Prime Time observed minors selling drugs in some areas of the capital, including O’Connell Bridge, at the end of the country’s main thoroughfare.

On weekday afternoons, a group of teenagers travelled on e-scooters to congregate at a corner in the inner-city, where they were filmed openly selling drugs to others. The group was alerted by 'spotters' when gardaí approached on patrol.

Children groomed into crime

Prime Time also spoke to young people who had been caught up in the system about how criminals are grooming children to work as mules, moving drugs and cash.

"When you see a child with a backpack at 9am. You would assume the child is in a uniform walking down the road to school," ‘Jonathan’ told Prime Time. Now in his late teens, he was a child drug mule and dealer for years.

"Instead, that child has two kilogrammes of cocaine in their backpack, and they're on the way to deliver it. No one will ever look at a child as a drug dealer or as a courier."

"People as young as seven or eight, people in third or fourth class, [are] going around with a backpack full of drugs, scales, paraphernalia or something. It’s ludicrous," he added.

Public representatives and community workers said they have similar concerns.

Paula Butterly, a Fine Gael TD for Louth, said staff in some schools in the Drogheda area have raised the issue with her directly.

"As a result of visiting schools, I've been made aware of the fact that children as young as seven are involved in drug muling, bringing drugs in their school bags as far as the school gates, and then at an older age, from 9 and 10 years older, being actually brought in to sell drugs," she said.

"This is hugely concerning because people are targeting vulnerable children and their families who are equally vulnerable."

The lure of money

Jonathan was one of those children and grew up exposed to drug use.

"The drug that was used in my household most commonly was weed. Weed became tablets, became cocaine," he said.

"Growing up looking at my mam, taking drugs and seeing her go off the rails sometimes, it sort of made me steer clear of that. But the money aspect of it was enticing."

The prospect of having money is the allure for many young people like Jonathan to get involved in selling drugs.

"I'd be looking at this drug, and I'd be saying to myself, ‘I could make an awful lot of money off this. I could have a new bike, new clothes. I can go out to a restaurant, I could do this, or I could pay someone to do that.’ You know, a couple hundred euro at that age, you feel like you're a millionaire," he said.

Based in Limerick, Michael Guerin has been an addiction counsellor for 20 years.

"It tends to be young people who emanate from areas of social and economic disadvantage, where the distribution of illegal drugs is commonplace," he said.

"And it's almost a rite of passage because it's an opportunity for 14 and 15-year-old young men to make money that they otherwise wouldn't have."

How the system works

Jonathan said that it starts off with young children being given a bag and asked to drop it somebody’s house or car. A child can be given €100-€150 for a task such as moving a delivery.

"You would start off couriering, and you get trust. People would start to see your face and you know you're not stealing things. You build a name for yourself," he said.

The next step can involve a child being taken into a house to help weigh, cut up and pack drugs into separate ‘deals’.

He said houses, apartments, Airbnb properties and hotel rooms in leafy suburbs are often used for this.

"It doesn't happen in boarded up flats or houses rampant with drug users and drug dealers, because it's simply too obvious and it doesn't make sense," he said.

"No one's going to assume that that house is the house that they're going to be using to chop up Class A drugs."

After illegal drugs have been prepared for dealing, he said minors are sent out on the streets to sell them.

Changing drug markets

Michael Guerin told Prime Time that a user could pay a dealer anywhere between "€50 and €100 a gram for cocaine" depending on quality.

"You're talking about €30 for illicit benzodiazepines per card, and you're talking anywhere between €30 and €50 for a rock of crack cocaine," he said.

"Generally speaking, these young people who are transporting drugs on e-scooters and electric bicycles tend not so much to be distributing cocaine but tend to be distributing things like crack cocaine and counterfeit benzodiazepines to hardened drug users."

The e-scooter has had a massive impact on the illegal drugs trade in the last few years, according to Mr Guerin.

"The e-scooter has really revolutionised the distribution and sale of drugs. They can travel at 60 kilometres an hour. That gives the person who is distributing the drugs a distinct advantage against the gardaí's conventional means of pursuit," he added.

Dealers will also travel in groups of two or three on scooters, where only one of them will carry drugs. If they are pursued by the gardaí, they can split up to reduce the chances of detection and prosecution.

Over the period Prime Time observed drug dealing on our streets in recent weeks, gardaí were visibly on patrol.

Garda response

In a statement to Prime Time, An Garda Síochána said it had introduced "a high visibility policing plan in Dublin city centre in March 2025".

Analysis of data from the policing plan up to March 2026 shows there has been an average of 18 arrests per day, resulting in nearly 6,500 arrests in total.

An Garda Síochána said an average of 35 charges or summonses were issued each day, amounting to 13,500 in total.

Gardaí also reported an increase in proactive drug-related detections, with simple possession offences rising by 16% and obstruction offences under the Misuse of Drugs Act increasing by 27%.

Vulnerable children

Criminologist Trina O’Connor has analysed some of the footage gathered by Prime Time through hidden filming.

She said that the footage shows "open-air markets" for selling drugs such as weed and cocaine, noting that there is a division of labour among people selling drugs on the streets.

They each appear to have distinct roles. Some work as lookouts, others hold drugs. Some hold cash, while others work as hand-to-hand sellers.

While viewing some of the footage of young drug dealers, Ms O’Connor said it was "troubling" to see how young the people involved were.

"These are very young, particularly this young baby face here," she said.

"It's really, troubling to see somebody that young dealing in an open area like that so blatantly."

Louth TD Paula Butterly said she was "really shocked" when she first heard children as young as seven are being used as drug mules with nine and 10-year-olds selling drugs.

"The blame lies firmly with the criminals who are using children, preying on children, to entice them into this sort of activity and lifestyle," she said.

"It's beyond my reasoning as to why an adult would do this to a child, deliberately ruin their lives."

"These children have the right to have a life. It's a small number of children, but it has a big impact on the local community," she added.

Can it be stopped?

Mr Guerin warns that drug gangs see children and teens as dispensable parts of the illicit drugs trade.

"There is such a complicated hierarchical structure within the drug distribution network that if these people get detected, they are basically foot soldiers. They're dispensable. They do not care about them, and they'll be replaced with the next one that comes along," he said.

Jonathan says some minors get involved in drug dealing for what he calls "noble reasons". "If you're putting food on the table for your siblings because your parents or your family won't do it for you, that's fine. If you are selling drugs because otherwise, you're going to be homeless on the streets, I can accept that."

"But at the same time, no one's forced to sell drugs, no matter what people make you believe. Nobody is forced to sell drugs. Everyone has a choice."

"I 100% understand why people would have no sympathy for someone that sells drugs," he added.

Addressing the issue

There has been widespread praise for the work carried out by the Drogheda Implementation Board from 2021 to 2024, in the wake of the drugs feud that claimed four lives in the town, but there are now calls for a new impetus in the fight against drugs.

"When you are dealing with criminals who are going to be constantly looking for new ways to sell their drugs, we have to try as best as possible to get ahead of the game," Louth TD Paula Butterly said.

"And the solution in my mind here is continuous supports into the community by statutory and non-statutory bodies. And it has to be a continuous process."

Turning away from crime

Trina O'Connor added that criminality is not something "you’re destined for."

"We can provide all these pathways to mental health interventions, addiction intervention and working with community policing, and that's how we interrupt drugs markets," she added.

Now in his late teens, Jonathan cites the death of a close friend and meeting his girlfriend as the two reasons why he turned his back on drug dealing.

"All that’s behind me," he told Prime Time.

"I just live my life how I want to now, and I couldn't ask for anything more. I couldn't ask for a better ending because I feel, compared to everyone, I'm extremely lucky."

‘Cocaine Kids: Ireland’s child drug dealers,’ from Conor McMorrow and producer Lucinda Glynn will feature on the 4 June edition of Prime Time on RTÉ One and RTÉ Player at 9:35pm.

If you’ve been affected by any issues raised, please go to https://about.rte.ie/ie/helplines/ or contact the numbers below.

Irish Internet Helpline - Report Line: +353 86 8116273. Garda Confidential Line on 1800 666 111