Gardai say the Government needs to move drug treatment centres out of the city centre as they can no longer deal with the thousands of addicts who flock into the O'Connell Street and Liffey boardwalk areas daily.
Dublin is unique in Europe in having its main drug "treatment" centres located in the main tourist and shopping areas with addicts plaguing areas where most visitors would go in the city.
The Health Service Executive (HSE) is responsible for the methadone clinics and drug treatment centres in Pearse Street, Baggot Street and in the north city centre in Abbey Street, Amiens Street and Marlborough Street. Gardai also blame Dublin City Council for concentrating its hostel provision for the homeless in the area between O'Connell Street and Amiens Street, attracting large numbers of addicts responsible for much of the petty crime, such as theft from cars and muggings.
The Store Street and Pearse Street Garda districts both saw a dramatic increase in the number of muggings in the past year as both stations witnessed a large upsurge in young people robbing to pay for their drug habits. Muggings, or robbery from the person, increased by 300 per cent in the Store Street district in the first quarter of the year compared with the same period in 2009.
Gardai in these stations say it is now beyond time for the Government to address the issue of locating the drug treatment centres and accommodation for homeless in the centre city.
The addicts come into the city from around 9.30am to 10.30am in the morning, when about 3,000 receive methadone at the centres.
They then begin trading other drugs, in many cases openly and in places which are highly visible to visitors. The most commonly traded drugs among the methadone and heroin users are prescription tranquilisers, which gardai believe are being bought in large quantities over the internet by dealers in the city.
Once the addicts are sufficiently sedated or "goofed", many then spend the afternoons when the weather is good sitting along the Liffey boardwalk, erected by Dublin City Council in the Nineties as a tourist attraction.
Gardai say that the numbers of addicts and petty thieves coming into the city centre has reached its highest level in years and they see no sign of the trend changing.
They blame political inertia for the problem. Any time that the HSE attempts to open treatment centres in the suburbs or almost anywhere outside Dublin, it faces strong opposition to its efforts from local people. The campaigns are generally directed at local councillors and TDs.
Only last month, residents in Coolmine in Dublin 15 mounted a strong campaign against a proposal to open a drug treatment clinic beside a centre for children with intellectual disabilities. Addicts from the area are among the thousands who still have to travel to the city centre for their methadone.
Source: Jim Cusack, The Sunday Independent, 30/05/2010
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