Businesses consider legal challenge to city-centre supervised drug centres
DUBLIN City businesses believe that laws which have been passed by the Government to allow a drug-injection centre are unconstitutional and could be subject to a legal challenge.
The Temple Bar Company says a drug centre would be illegal and its chief executive, Martin Harte, believes that businesses in the tourist area will consider legal action when it proceeds.
However Catherine Byrne, the minister responsible for a pilot scheme to allow heroin addicts to legally inject, said: ‘If the Bill is unconstitutional, why did the President sign it into law?’
She was adamant that the supervised injecting facility will go ahead as planned.
However, Mr Harte showed the Irish Mail on Sunday legal opinion that the new law is in conflict with Article 34.1 of the Constitution, which states: ‘Justice shall be administered in courts established by law by judges appointed in the manner provided by this Constitution and, save in such special and limited cases as may be prescribed by law, shall be administered in public.’
The Temple Bar Company’s advice says: ‘Under the terms of this Bill, a private citizen is being licensed by the minister to nominate, at their own discretion, who is an ‘authorised user’ and so shall not be guilty of an offence, despite engaging in behaviour that would be otherwise illegal.’
Mr Harte said that the people he represents will consider challenging the constitutionality of the Bill in the courts.
In response, Ms Byrne said: ‘What do they want to do with these people? At the end of the day, these are chronic drug users, they have to go somewhere, take them off the street so that people don’t have to be stepping over them or finding them dead in a corner.
‘I don’t know what they want. They should go to some of the places and speak to some of the people who I’ve spoken to, ask them how their areas have changed since they were introduced and all they will get is a positive answer.’
President Higgins signed The Misuse of Drugs (Supervised Injecting Facilities) Bill 2017 into law in May. The first pilot injecting centre is due to be opened in Dublin city centre in the autumn. The locations of the other facilities have not yet been decided.
The Department of Health said the experience from 90 facilities around the world showed a reduction in fatal overdoses and transmission of blood-borne diseases, less drug-related litter and no increase in drug usage or drug-related crime.
‘What do they want to do with these people?’