THE seizure of cocaine in at the weekend - the consignment of the drug found by the State - is undoubtedly a success for the Irish authorities. It represents a useful contribution to stemming the flow of drugs into Europe.

But the authorities have readily acknowledged that the cocaine was not destined for the Irish illegal drugs market. Both they, and the street protesters who have spent the last year trying to push them into more action against drug dealers, may wish it was a consignment of heroin headed for Dublin which had been intercepted.

Despite the recurring "crime packages" of this and previous governments, drug use has grown, and dealing on the capital's streets is still a vibrant business. Senior Garda officers arc drawing up a plan to tackle open dealing in the worst affected areas. It is an initiative prompted by the street protests and also by vigilantism, but given a new urgency by indications that senior republican figures in the city have decided to mount a political campaign around the drugs issue.

The Garda believes that men with IRA and INLA links have been involved in some of the "contract killings" of the last two years. A few of the killings were over personal or gangland disputes, but many seem to have been straightforward "hits" on drug dealers. Some of those shot dead featured on a purported "IRA hit list" of dealers.

The Garda view has been that such murders were freelance activities, often undertaken for cash rather than any republican cause. Now there is speculation that republican figures in Dublin want less vigilante activity - at least in terms of shootings - and more effort put into capitalising on the street protests of the genuinely popular anti drug movement that has grown up in deprived areas.

One of those who took part in last Friday's anti drugs march in Dublin is a man said by gardai to be in the IRA, who has run a vigilante gang in the south inner city area. He is said to be among the killers of Josie Dwyer, the drug addict beaten to death in April.

TWO other marchers, both from the west of the city, arc said by gardai to be senior figures in the IRA.

One has a firearms conviction; the other has no record since a breach of the peace in the 1970s.

It may be that these people are marchers by day and vigilantes by night. But the increased Sinn Fe in involvement in some of the anti drug groups suggests a determined effort by the party to mount a new political campaign in the city around the drugs issue, and with this has come a recognition that vigilantism could work against the interests of the movement.

The view is particular to developments in this State. In Northern Ireland the IRA has had no qualms about taking violent action against dealers, but activists in this State do not want unnecessary confrontation with the authorities. In addition, Belfast does not have the sort of popular movement against drugs which has appeared in Dublin, arid so does not offer the same option of taking the lead in an already growing political campaign about drugs.

In a statement issued yesterday, Sinn Fe in said the recent Dublin drug protests "are not Sinn Fein led or directed".

"Sinn Fe in members who live and work in these communities are of course involved in anti drugs campaigns, just as they are involved in unemployment groups, housing groups and many other community based organisations," it said.

One seasoned anti drugs campaigner with no republican links recognises a change in the movement in Dublin in recent weeks. "I don't care what they are," he says, inclining his head towards the young men leading one recent march though the city. "We've Sinn Fe in people up there, we've armed robbers up there, well known criminals, there's all sorts have come on board. And that's OK, because we have a unity of purpose.

The 3,000 people who took part in last Friday's march were, for the most part, the ordinary men and women who form the backbone of the anti drugs movement. Among them are parents whose children have died from drugs, or have become addicted to them.

Some have spent every last pound they could find buying methadone on the black market in an attempt to wean their children off heroin and on to the substitute drug. There is no graver indictment of the State's anti drug effort than that such parents have felt obliged to seek out street dealers and buy half bottles physeptone, diluted with Lucozade or whatever other orange coloured liquid the dealer thinks he can get away with.

What must concern the authorities is that these parents are not interested in whether marches are led by Sinn Fein members, IRA men or other people like themselves. Their only concern is that the State takes notice "You're telling me these are all Sinn Fein, well maybe that's because the other political parties are doing nothing," says one mother, who says she spent two years trying to detoxify her son before he died of a heroin overdose.

THE Garda Commissioner says a new plan of actions against dealing in the city will be announced in two weeks. So far as can be determined there are few extra resources for it, and the plan may be based on a rejuggling of existing manpower. One option is to divide Dublin into "drug zones" and move extra gardai on to streets in those areas, concentrating on winning back the city from the dealers along the lines of the "block by block" schemes favoured by the New York police.

Such a plan leaves a danger that dealers pushed out of one area will merely gather in the next.

The decision of the Garda to produce a new plan is prompted by both vigilantism and the realisation that high profile drug seizures and a targeting of the major drug importers do not necessarily result in a reduction in street dealing. There has been a vacuum in policing on the streets, which members of the public - and now Sinn Fe in activists - have moved to fill.

Similarly, despite the increase in Eastern Health Board treatment facilities for drug addicts, the authorities have left a vacuum there too. Plans have been reactive and announcements of more resources in this area have tended to come only after large numbers of people took part in street protests.

It is apparent the police and the health authorities have been lagging behind the public - in the form of the marching protesters in determining the level of response needed to combat drug dealing. It is no wonder that groups such as the IRA and Sinn Fe in believe they can move to fill the gap.