The Oireachtas Committee on Drugs Use has heard children as young as seven and eight are regularly acting as look-outs for drug gangs.
The HSE, Department of Justice and Department of Health are facing questions about progress on Ireland’s drugs strategy.
The recent overdose warning issued by the HSE following the discovery of extremely potent synthetic opium was also discussed.
Professor Eamon Keenan from the HSE says analysis on the drug was carried out by a new machine that was only launched last week:
"We do need additional resources for us to be able to keep a close eye on what's emerging because it happened so quickly that we need staff at the ground. So, we have got proposals into the department to expand the emerging trends analysing work that we do".
