Rural Ireland is being gripped by the spread of heroin as never before, and gardai are predicting it will reach epidemic proportions -- as the world supply of the drug reaches record level, combined with an almost total lack of treatment centres outside Dublin and a few major towns.

Heroin is the drug of economic recession, gardai say. It took hold in the working class suburbs of Dublin in the bleak days of the early Eighties and they now fear that the onset of the new recession will see its spread throughout the country, as ruthless dealers reach into rural communities.

A brief survey by the Sunday Independent last week indicated that north Donegal appears to be one of the few places that heroin had not taken hold.

In the past 10 years, the drug began spreading out from Dublin along the N7 into the midlands, but in the past two years a second major distribution centre has emerged in Limerick. Heroin -- mimicking its affect on the human body -- is spreading along the main road arteries of the State, reaching towns and villages almost everywhere.

Gardai said they are now encountering heroin dealing and addiction almost everywhere.

Cavan town, it emerged earlier this month, has an estimated 200 addicts and the town is supplying heroin to surrounding rural villages and towns.

Gardai said recently that heroin has hit Kerry "like a tornado" as Limerick gangs have begun swamping the area -- with heroin now turning up right across the county in towns and villages where the drug had previously been unheard of.

Ennis in County Clare is also being targeted by the gangs and the town may have at least 100 addicts -- many involved in dealing the drug to people in outlying areas. "About five years ago there were two people known to be using heroin here," one garda commented. "I don't think we know the exact number, but it is becoming very common. It is very worrying. There is a lot of associated crime."

Clonakilty has a "very bad" problem according to Cork, gardai, who say they are mystified as to why it has become a centre for heroin.

Fishing towns and villages are being hit by the drug, as young men involved in the fishing industry, from Killybegs in Donegal to Duncannon in Wexford, appear particularly badly affected.

Athlone and the other major midlands towns were the first places outside Dublin hit by the drug and have been experiencing growing problems -- as heroin becomes more easily available outside Dublin and Limerick. Portlaoise has at least 200 heroin addicts, a court heard earlier this year.

An operation mounted by gardai in Galway along with the Garda National Drug Unit last year, targeting what local gardai thought was the sale of cocaine in the city centre, found that they were actually witnessing the street sale of heroin. The number of addicts in Galway city is not known, but like many other parts of the country, it is encountering a major increase in burglary and larceny crime associated with heroin addiction.

Waterford and Wexford have had heroin for several years but it is growing rapidly, gardai say. Two years ago, in New Ross, Co Wexford, according to local sources, local drug dealers deliberately cut off the supply of cannabis and offered young people heroin to smoke instead -- a habit that becomes instantly addictive, and the town now has a significant number of addicts.

In Kerry, gardai are coming across addicts who owe money to Limerick gangs and are so frightened of being murdered that they are committing robberies with the intention of being caught and sent to prison. This year, two accused addicts actually told courts that they wanted to go to prison and did not want suspended sentences.

A large proportion of cases coming before the district and circuit court in Dundalk are related to heroin addiction and the town now has a substantial number of addicts, many of them homeless.

Portlaoise could have the worst per-capita problem in the State, although Athlone may be ahead of it. Three years ago, Judge Mary Martin commented on a report by the Regional Drugs Task Force which stated that there were 18 heroin users in Portlaoise. She said: "This court can confirm there are 200 and name them if necessary." A local garda source could not put a figure on the current level of addiction but said he assumed it had "doubled".

Last month, a drugs counsellor in Kilkenny said: "Kilkenny's heroin problem needs to be tackled now because we seem to be losing the battle." The town and county -- as with most counties -- lacked any rehab or treatment centres.

The absence of any facilities or effective treatment has led to the formation of a group in Limerick headed by the former Munster and Ireland rugby player Gerry McLoughlin, who says there are "thousands" of addicts in Limerick city and surrounding areas and no means of treatment or of tackling the problem.

"There are all these people in quangos who are supposed to be dealing with this, but we can see nothing being done. There is no treatment or rehab centre in Limerick. We see all these people -- politicians included -- in their plush, posh offices doing nothing. They are out of touch with the suffering of people on the ground." The Labour Party councillor said a group of about 50 concerned people in Limerick had come together to try and tackle the problem.

"There is no detox, no rehab, no residential care. This is tearing families apart and having a devastating effect on the community."

Gardai in Sligo said last week that the problem is certainly increasing in the town. Two years ago, it was estimated there were only 15 addicts in the town, but this has now "mushroomed", one garda said. They believe the Limerick gangs were supplying the local market, moving up the N18 and N17 from Limerick.

The falling price of the drug has exacerbated the problem. A "fix", more commonly known as a "bag", retails for about €16 in the city and around €25 in the rest of the country. The major suppliers, gardai say, are the same gangs and families from the Ballyfermot, Clondalkin and Finglas areas that have been supplying the Dublin market for more or less two generations now, many of them having moved to England and using young dealers to spread the product around Ireland. The failure of the United States and NATO to build a proper government in Afghanistan has meant that heroin production has reached record proportions.

- JIM CUSACK