The scale of the fake medicines in Ireland has been made worryingly clear with the latest figures from the State’s drugs watchdog.

The Health Products Regulatory Authority (HPRA) seized more than 750,000 units of illegal and fake medicines over the course of 2025.

As has been in the case in previous years, anabolic steroids top the list of fake imported drugs, with erectile dysfunction medication next.

But what has alarmed the watchdog is the 180 per cent rise in individual consignments year on year – people going online and ordering these bogus products – with a “significant proportion” being presented as GLP-1 products, also known as weight-loss drugs.

So why do people seek out these particular medicines online; are they aware they may be fake despite their apparently authentic packaging and appearance; and is there an understanding of the health risks involved?

Irish Times health correspondent Shauna Bowers explains the ever-increasing rise in fake medicines reaching Ireland.

Presented by Bernice Harrison. Produced by John Casey.

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Clifton Collins (55) had a thriving business growing cannabis in rented houses around the country.

The Crumlin man and expert beekeeper was known for his award-winning honey but his real earner was the fortune he made from years of dealing drugs.

He operated under the radar so when gardaí came across him parked in the Wicklow Mountains one night, they had no idea their search would eventually result in of the most lucrative seizures in the history of the Criminal Assets Bureau.

Collins had amassed 6,000 bitcoin around 2010. The problem for the Garda was they didn’t know the code to unlock the wallets; it was, Collins said, lost.

His bitcoin stash had by 2026 rocketed in value to €360 million.

Seven years after gardaí seized the wallets they have finally been able to open one of them and have released €30 million. There are 11 more wallets to be opened.

Irish Times crime and security editor Conor Lally explains the background to this extraordinary case.

Presented by Bernice Harrison. Produced by Suzanne Brennan.

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Stephen McCullagh (36) thought he had created a cast iron alibi for himself when he planned the murder of his pregnant girlfriend Natalie McNally (32) in December 2022.

An avid gamer he was, he claimed, at home playing a video game live at the time she was killed. But as the PSNI was able to prove, he had in fact pre-recorded hours of himself playing the game. Police found that when he hit “play”, he set off to his girlfriend's house in Armagh where he savagely murdered her.

The case against McCullagh was built on circumstantial evidence, so for Natalie’s devastated family, conviction was not certain.

Seanín Graham is Northern Correspondent of The Irish Times and she was in court in Belfast for the trial.

She tells In the News she has never before witnessed such emotional scenes in court as when the guilty verdict was handed down on Monday.

Presented by Bernice Harrison. Produced by Declan Conlon and Suzanne Brennan.

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