Archbishop Diarmuid Martin has accused Ireland's wealthy professionals of contributing towards the criminal underworld by using recreational drugs.Dr Martin's scathing condemnation of "double standards" towards drugs was made when he became the first Catholic Archbishop of Dublin to preach in the Anglican Christ Church Cathedral since the 16th century Reformation.
Delivering the 68th annual Citizenship Sunday sermon, the Archbishop said selling drugs was about trafficking in death.
"Violence and the drug trade belong intrinsically together," he added. "Illicit drug consumption cannot be sanitised out of that equation."
Abhorred
Archbishop Martin said it was difficult to understand how a society which rightly abhorred any expression of double-standards in public life could engage in double-standards about drugs.
"There are those who attempt to make germ-free the bond between the sordid network of drug trafficking and violence, and the socially accepted use of certain drugs as 'recreational'," he said.
He said this attitude towards the drug trade could never be made politically correct.
"In the face of gangland and drug-related violence, just as in the face of the purposeless violence among young people, society as a whole must take a stand."
"That is what citizenship is about. There is no room to be complacent in the face of wanton disregard for life."
"Too many lives have been lost. Violence is a blind alley that in the long term achieves only grief. Vengeance rebounds on those who practice it."
He added that despite the success of the Irish economy over the past decade there are still inadequacies in the health service and in social welfare.
"If we are unable to overcome these difficulties in a time when we still have plenty, we will struggle to ensure that the poor do not pay the highest price in the event of cutbacks in public expenditure."
The archbishop cited his special concern for the elderly, especially those who do not have private health insurance or adequate pensions or family to support them.
The service, which was led by Dr Martin's Church of Ireland counterpart, Archbishop John Neill, was attended by the Lord Mayor of Dublin Paddy Bourke, wearing the full regalia of the office.
The Government was represented by Minister of State, Pat Carey. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
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