The Minister with responsibility for the National Drugs Strategy, Noel Ahern, has said the Government is committed to fighting illegal drugs.
He was speaking at Leinster House during a protest by anti-drugs campaigners, who claim the Government is no longer committed to combatting drug abuse.
Mr Ahern said the Government was spending more on the drugs problem than ever before.
Gardaí are continuing to question three men in connection with the seizure of cocaine with a potential street value of €3.5 million in Dublin last night.
The three men, two from Dublin and one from Nigeria, were arrested and detained at Store Street Garda Station under Section Two of the Drug Trafficking Act. They can be questioned for up to a week.
Officers suspect a West African gang of being behind the importation.
25kg of the drug were found hidden in pallets when a van was stopped in the North Strand in Dublin's north inner city just after 7pm in a joint Garda-Customs operation.
It is believed the cocaine originated in South America and was shipped to Dublin via Lagos in Nigeria and Amsterdam in Holland.
Gardaí believe the cocaine was brought in by a West African drug dealing gang which has been establishing itself in the drugs trade in Ireland and making connections with Irish criminals.
They also believe that this is not only a new gang operating in Ireland but one that is using a new route through Nigeria and Holland to bring in large quantities of drugs.
