Four-year-old Tadhg Farrell and his 60-year-old grand-aunt Mary Holt were killed in an arson attack at a house in Edenderry on Saturday evening.
Gardaí described the incident as a "callous, reckless and murderous attack on a family home" and suspect a Midlands crime gang maybe behind the attack.
Ms Holt and Tadhg were innocent victims, and it is understood the house may have been targeted in a case of drug debt intimidation.
Limerick-based addiction counsellor Michael Guerin told Behind the Story he has seen a big increase in drug use and intimidation in recent years.
"I think a lot of the drug related intimidation and violence, and the escalation in the kinds of intimidation and violence… are commensurate with the huge increases we have seen in cocaine use over the past number of years," he said.
"In the main, we are by and large talking about cocaine-related drug debt, as opposed to other things.
"A lot of services would be seeing young men under 25 years old who would have a drug habit that would be costing in excess of four figures per week".
Mr Guerin said cocaine use is more prolific across Ireland, describing it as having "moved from the suits to the wellingtons and everything in between".
Mr Guerin explained that it can often be difficult for people who are battling addiction if they believe their family could be at-risk because of a drug debt.
"[It's] a massive problem that services are encountering when they’re trying to treat clients with drug problems," he said.
"The client on the one hand is trying to focus on their addiction and their recovery from their addiction, but at the same they are petrified as to what might happen their loved ones while they are in treatment.
"The only rule about drug-related intimidation and violence, and drug-related debt collection, is there are no rules".
Mr Guerin said more needs to be done across the society, ranging from educating young people in school all the way up to Government-level.
You can listen to Behind the Story which is available on the RTÉ Radio Player.
You can also find episodes on Apple here, or on Spotify here.
