Cannabis has historically been Ireland’s most consumed illicit drug. Recent years have, however, witnessed a significant rise in cocaine consumption, with Gardaí and drug counsellors recently reporting the drug’s availability in every village, town and city in Ireland, as well as rural areas. The research site for this study is no different: interviews and media reports note the increasing availability of different drugs, including illegally obtained prescription drugs and MDMA, but especially cocaine.

One possible reason for this is county line-type drug dealing, and as the EMCDDA has pointed out, evidence of this type of drug dealing exists in Ireland.4 As the research site is just over an hour’s drive from Cork city, this could be a viable explanation. No academic study has been carried out regarding county line drug dealing in the Irish context, and this style of drug dealing may explain this recent upsurge in polydrug availability.

The literature on Irish drug markets is slim, and almost non-existent for rural drug markets. As such, this article seeks to fill a gap in the literature by investigating the development of a rural Irish drug market in Ireland, its history and the form it currently takes. Within this discussion the article will critically explore the existence of county line-type operations in Ireland and migration patterns of Irish drug dealers. The next section explores the Irish and British drug market literature. This is followed by the methodology and results.