Injecting centre is ‘risk to pupils’ insists school
THE State’s first planned injecting centre for heroin addicts ‘will only compound an already horrendous situation’ for a nearby inner Dublin city primary school.
That is according to the board of management and principal of St Audoen’s NS who have told Dublin City Council that the planned Merchants Quay Ireland facility ‘represents an unjustifiable risk to pupils and staff who attend the school’.
Earlier this year, MQI won a tender from the HSE to develop and operate the Medically Supervised Injecting Facility.
However, MQI’s planning application is now facing widespread opposition as 99 objections have been lodged with Dublin City Council. St Audoen’s NS has put in a 12-page objection.
MQI has operated a needle exchange programme for heroin addicts at its Riverbank building beside St Audoen’s since 2008 and the school states the antisocial behaviour associated with current needle exchange facility represents a serious child protection issue and health risk to staff and students.
It states further that the new injecting centre ‘will only compound this and intensify the danger of physical, mental and emotional harm to the children and staff of the national school’.
The school states that children attending the school look out of their classrooms windows and see drug users injecting.
Supporting its case as to why the MQI plan shouldn’t proceed, St Audoen’s has submitted entries from a school log-book of drug-related incidents that the school population has been exposed to since 2015. According to the school, the log book records drug users, both male and female injecting into their groin as children leave the after-school at 5pm. Other incidents include a large bottle of methadone found outside the school at 8am; a supply of heroin found outside the school; and the discovery of a knife.
A spokesman for MQI said yesterday: ‘‘The MSIF is targeted at addressing the concerns raised as it aims to reduce public injecting, drug litter, and anti-social behaviour.
‘International evidence shows that MSIFs can achieve this. The evidence also shows that MSIFs are not associated with an increase in crime, thus creating a safer environment for everyone.’
He said: ‘Gardaí are developing a policing plan for the area… Our hope for the MSIF is that, by taking drug use out of alleyways and bringing it into a safe, medical environment, it will benefit not only those using the service, but the wider community as well.’
A decision is due by the council on the application next month.
‘Physical and emotional harm’